Natchez — Students, family and friends of Cathedral School descended upon the campus this weekend to show support for the school — and have fun while they were at it.

Saturday was the first part of the two-day Cathedral Fall Festival, which at 161 years is the state’s longest-running fair.

The festival is the school’s biggest fundraiser of the year, and not only people affiliated with Cathedral showed up for the event.

“We have people from Jackson here, kids who came to stay with their grandparents just for this, old families who used to go here coming up from the coast just for this,” Festival Chairman Paige Iseminger said. “Lots of people come just for the juicy burger.”

Children jumped on inflatable toys, worked their way down the midway or waited for a pony ride, while adults browsed through the used book sale or bid on items in the silent auction.

Others test-drove vehicles brought to the school by Heritage Dodge, which gave a donation of $5 to the school for every person who drove the vehicles. ­

But 10-year-old Matt McKinney made his way through the crowd, fending off a couple of friends when they saw the tray of green-iced cupcakes in his arms.

McKinney — a fourth-grader at the school — liked the cakewalk, where he won the cupcakes, but he said there was something he liked even better than the chance to win confected goodness just by standing on the right spot at the right time.

“My favorite part is getting dunked in the dunking booth,” he said.

The festival will continue today with a turkey dinner in the school cafeteria from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and children’s games from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

From 2 p.m. until 4 p.m., there will be bingo for adults.