About 15 years ago, longtime Old West End resident Paul Swartz baked six pies in the hope that they would attract out-of-town family and friends to the annual Old West End festival and promote his beloved neighborhood.

Last year, he baked 24 pies in 22 flavors, including strawberry, rhubarb, butterscotch, lemon creme, and key lime. Mr. Swartz said that over the years, he has invited friends, family, people from the neighborhood and even strangers into his three-story, Victorian-style home for a slice of pie. By the end of last year’s festival, all but one pie was gone.

But this year, Mr. Swartz did not bake any pies. His grandson’s graduation party was on Saturday, and life just became too busy for pies.

So naturally, he agreed to build his church’s full-sized Noah’s Ark float — complete with flamingos, stuffed animals, and beach balls — for Saturday’s King Wamba carnival parade instead.

“The ark won, the pie lost,” Mr. Swartz said with a chuckle.

Despite overcast skies and cool weather, visitors and residents alike came en masse to bask in the festival’s revelry, enjoying the zany atmosphere and the tight-knit Old West End community that people like Mr. Swartz help foster.

VIDEO: Old West End Festival

The parade kicked off the 47th iteration of the festival with a bang, as floats, performance art, and musical presentations rolled through Robinwood Avenue, Bancroft Street, and Collingwood Boulevard.

“You’re not going to find a parade like this anywhere else,” said Rachel Abke of Perrysburg, who attended the parade with her husband, Jeff, and their two small children. “It’s a showcase of everything that’s great about Toledo in one big microcosm.”

In addition to Mr. Swartz’s ark float, the parade lineup featured a giant, colorful fish, flamingo-decorated golf carts, horses, and a bicycle-powered mini train.

Bradley Scherzer, a South Toledo resident who made the bicycle-powered train, said he started the project almost a year ago, constructing the two train cars from miscellaneous items from hardware stores and some parts he custom-made from wood. Ken Dushane III, an Old West End graffiti artist known as Phybr, then painted the cars with bright blue and green graffiti.

“[The Old West End festival] is kind of a license to be weird, and be accepted for being weird, which is kind of what I look for in everyday life,” Mr. Scherzer said.

The parade, which pays homage to the Toledo Mardi Gras festival of 1909, was topped with the crowning of Dave and Toni Moore as this year’s Wamba king and Samba queen, decked in regal attire and colorful feather headpieces. But the festivities do not end with the parade.

The neighborhood’s Edwardian, Victorian, and Arts and Craft-style houses are a must-see, said Nancy Johnston, who has been coming to the festival for at least a decade.

“If no one’s ever been in them, especially the mansions around here, and you love architecture, then you have to go in them because they’re remarkable,” she said.

Mrs. Johnston also enjoys looking at all the wares sold at the festival’s fine art fair and the various yard sales that pop up during the festival. Artisans at this year’s fest are selling everything from face paint to animal marionettes to flower pots made out of old doll heads.

“You see stuff you never even knew you needed,” Mrs. Johnston said.

Mr. Swartz, who usually spends the entire festival weekend in his house serving pie, is excited for the chance to attend some of the festivities this year so he can witness his favorite part of the festival — “seeing the people and the neighborhood so active and busy and just people enjoying our neighborhood.”

The festival continues Sunday with a 5k run at 9 a.m. followed by the art fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Historic home tours, which include five houses, are available from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, go to toledooldwestend.com.

Contact Addy Feibel at afeibel@theblade.com, 419-724-6050, or on Twitter @AddyFeibel.

First Published June 2, 2018, 5:55 p.m.