The Carthage Buggy Festival, traditionally held on Mother’s Day weekend, gets under way Friday evening at Nancy Kiser Park with entertainment, music, food and more.

It will also include an informal drive-in/drive-out gathering displaying classic cars and fire engines.

While a competitive classic car show in the downtown area has been part of the festival for most of its 22 years, a more informal gathering of hot rods, old Chevys, Model As, Model Ts and other old autos begins the night before when owners park their precious velocipedes around the Carthage Historical Museum on the corner of the park.

This year, lovingly restored old cars will be joined by hook-and-ladder trucks, pumpers, and antique fire engines — always a favorite with youngsters — since the Carthage Firefighters Association will be hosting this “first night of the festival” fire truck and car show.

Members of the town’s volunteer fire department are doing double-duty that afternoon. They will be donning aprons as cooks stage-side near the park picnic shelter. Firefighters will light fires for a change, manning grills and hovering fire-side to flip burgers and grill hot dogs and pour ice-cold drinks. It’s all a fundraiser for the fire department.

A big hit from last year is returning to take stage for a 2010 festival Friday show. In the park’s outdoor Lapping Amphitheater, young performers, members of the Temple Teens from Sanford’s Temple Theater, will entertain the crowd starting at 5 p.m.

The fun continues on Saturday, from a downtown platform full of music and streets filled with vendors of all sorts pouring into town at the break of day.