Hundreds of ping pong balls fell to the pavement and people scoured the street scooping sometimes dozens of them into boxes and empty ice cream pails.

Each ping bong ball had a special discount written on it for one of 31 participating businesses that had the choice to contribute either 25 or 50 balls. Around 1,200 ping pong balls were tossed into the street Saturday morning.

Christina Schwab, owner of Inspired and a member of New Ulm Small Business Group, said the number of participants in the ping pong toss — ball wranglers and businesses — has grown this year.

“I think there’s a lot more traffic this year,” she said, “We do have more vendors and there was definitely more people at the ping ping ball drop. That’s fun to see.”

People shop and look at vendors’ and small businesses’ wares lined up on tables and in tents at the Refined Market on Minnesota Street during the second day of Crazy Days Saturday. (Photo by Gage Cureton)

Danielle Fischer Marti, co-owner of Gallery 512 and an organizer for the Re-Fined Market, said planning for Crazy Days typically begins in February to ensure enough vendors can schedule ahead for a spot before the busy summer market season begins.

She said a lot of vendors had expressed interest in attending Crazy Days and the Re-Fined Market, but couldn’t make it because of prior engagements. Although they couldn’t attend, Fischer Marti said more vendors have expressed interest than last year.

“For getting vendors, the summer is hard because there are other markets that people are already committed to,” she said. “A lot of people wanted to come that couldn’t, so it’s growing every year.”

She said the Refined Market, described as a modern market showcasing handmade artisan goods, is the brainchild of Marketstrasse — the enormous community market that used to take place in New Ulm. She said she wants Crazy Days to grow into something as enormous as Marketstrasse was.

“This is also part of the new Crazy Days activities that we’re trying to bring back,” she said. “We started the film fest on Friday — that’s new — and we started the ping pong ball toss Saturday morning. That’s one thing we brought back. They used to do that 12 years ago probably now.”

Fischer Marti said community markets like Crazy Days are vital for small cities because they create experiences for the town and generate an identity and pride.

“Artists and markets are really great for that because it creates that unique experience,” she said. “It also creates an experience for community people to get out and see eachother, so it’s also a social gathering as well.”

Al and Cindy Stabnow, owners of GutenTag Haus, said New Ulm is unique because it has a wide variety of privately-owned businesses on its main street [Minnesota Street]. Most smaller communities don’t have that luxury, she said.

“We’re one of the few [small cities] that have a downtown,” Cindy said. “If we didn’t have the small shops downtown we wouldn’t have anything.”

Al said small businesses in New Ulm are strong and main street America still exists.

“The Marktplatz, the mall out there, usually something like that — indoor shopping — puts main street out of business,” Al said. “We’re still here and they’re gone. That kind of says something, but you’ve got to have a good store.”

Gage Cureton can be emailed at gcureton@nujournal.com.