BAYFIELD, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) — The 58th annual Applefest kicked off Friday in Bayfield.

The massive festival celebrating the areas 15 orchards, wineries and ciders are expected to draw huge crowds from across the midwest and the nation.

The small town with a population of 473 people grows to 60,000 for one weekend every fall, which means a lot of spending too. 

Which is important to local orchard owners like Justin Sexton, owner of Ski Hill Orchard.

“This is where the majority of our income comes from is in the next two, two and a half days,” Sexton said.

He says 80 to 90 percent of their annual revenue comes from Applefest.

They work all year for this weekend, which puts the pressure on.

“A lot of pressure for small business owners that kind of rely on this weekend to make or break the year,” Sexton said.

That doesn't mean they won't have fun, no matter what the weather is like.

“It's always a good weekend whether it's rain, sun, shine, snow, people still come regardless, people look forward to this, have it on their calendars for a while, so it will still be a good weekend,” Sexton said.

The festival is huge for all of the businesses in Bayfield.

The chamber of commerce expects up to 60,000 people this weekend.

“Bayfield is really reliant on our tourism so this really brings us through the winter season when we don't see that tourism, we are expecting a huge economic impact from this and it will bring us through the winter season,” said Paige Rautio, marketing director for the Bayfield Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber says this weekend generates about $80 million for Bayfield and that's not even counting what it can do for surrounding towns.

And the rain they saw Friday morning or could see throughout the weekend likely won’t put a damper on that. Especially because people book the trip so far in advance.

“It's supposed to be a little bit rainy, but I don't think it will affect us at all, people come from a long way so they're not going to let this damper them,” Rautio said.

Good news for the orchards like Ski Hill.

“The orchards do a phenomenal job of providing great products, have to give the chamber of commerce a lot of credit, they've done an unbelievable job of marketing this area, marketing Bayfield as a superb small town to come and visit,” Sexton said.

Applefest continues through Sunday in Bayfield.