Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Sam Tessier and Ryan Hamm of Saskatchewan, Canada, try to pour beer on Stephen Lynn of Richmond.

Zack Marzec (left) and Emmy O’Leary fight it out with squirt guns on Laurel Avenue during Trail Days in Damascus.

Hiker Eric Medina of Alexandria dances with Rosan Mohammed, 3, in Sicily’s Italian Pizzeria in Damascus.

DAMASCUS -- All you need to have fun is a couple of beer bottles and some sticks.

Hikers taking respite from the Appalachian Trail showed the town of Damascus how in exchange for a shower, food and friendship during the town's annual Trail Days festival Friday.

The festival, former town resident Charles Trivett's 1987 creation, is expected to bring about 25,000 people to a town with no stoplights before it ends Sunday.

Just as trekking up the trail is a "calling" for many hikers, so is this festival.

The eight-day festival, culminating with this weekend's parade and hikers' talent show, also gives weary hikers a chance to catch up with friends old and new and a place to wash off weeks worth of grime.

"It's good times all the way around," said Richmond resident Stephen Lynn. In 2006, when Lynn graduated from Christopher Newport University, he hiked about 1,600 miles of the 2,174-mile trail. "It's just so much fun."

This year, he returned to Damascus to meet up with old friends as he finished the second half of his outdoor journey.

His two-day break includes perusing a few rounds of "Beersbie," a game that requires players to catch a flying disc or keep it from knocking beer bottles from their perches.

Town officials spend a year planning the festival for travelers from across the world. They expect revelers, but see the festival as a moneymaker and publicity.

Officials relish when the town's one square mile is filled with hairy, dirty and sometimes overindulgent travelers.

"It's all we have," said Town Clerk Tonya Triplett.

Most businesses in town -- restaurants, outdoors stores and bed-and-breakfasts -- are tied to tourism, she said.

Business more than doubles during the festival, prompting bright yellow "Trail Days" sales and jam-packed booths and aisles.

Last year, the eight-day festival brought in about $7,000 to the town's coffers, and the expectations are the same this year, Triplett said. Starting this year, organizers charged vendors who offered their wares or peddled published and pricey advice.

Much of the proceeds will help revamp the town's campgrounds. About 8 acres of the current campsites will be taken up so Washington County officials can build baseball fields, Triplett said.

But not everything is about money.

Some services, such as veterinarian John Roberts' "healthy dog checks" and free equipment repair and lessons on backpacking and ticks, are perks for hikers and their pals.

"This is a treat from what I see every day, which is mostly overweight dogs," Roberts said.

Most trail dogs, which tend to be sturdy blue heelers or German shepherds, can see upward of 20 miles of traveling a day, Roberts said. The dogs make companions and conversation pieces for groups of travelers.

Hikers like Canadian Ryan Hamm and his friends Sam and Paul Tessier from Saskatchewan, Canada, didn't need a dog to start a discussion. Known as the "Three Canadians," they have made a name for themselves with their game "beersbie" and tent artwork -- Canadian flags drawn on white sleeveless shirts.

"It's just about having fun," said Hamm, who said he's proud of the friends he made along the trail, even if they hadn't planned the trip.

"We just found the trail and went. It's just strolling along, drinking beer."