EAST PROVIDENCE — In the first few years of Heritage Days, the city’s largest annual festival, games and food vendors were crammed into City Hall’s parking lot. The stage where local artists performed was on the Weaver Library grounds.

Residents parked their cars on nearby streets and it was a good time, said Joseph R. Crook Jr., the outgoing director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. He and assistant director Alba Curti started the event in 1980.

“It’s changed a lot in both the scope and size since then,” Crook said.

Rock ’n’ roll Hall of Fame artists and nationally recognized cover bands were invited after the festival was moved to Pierce Field. A circus and rides arrived shortly thereafter. And attendance rose from the hundreds to an average of 10,000 to 12,000 each year.

Crook and his department expect they may get a record turnout at this year’s three-day celebration at the Mercer Street fields and stadium. The midway and vendors area, where the carnival rides and food are, opens at 3 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday.

The music begins tonight with a “Best of the British Invasions” concert where a Montreal group impersonates and sings hits from The Beatles, U2, The Police, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and more. The festivities begin at 6 p.m. and the two concerts start at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Admission tonight is $5 for adults.

Loverboy headlines tomorrow’s performances. The 1980s Canadian rock band had hits like “Turn Me Loose” and “Working for the Weekend.” The group should be on stage around 9:30 p.m. after a local group from Bristol called The Band of Brothers opens the show at 8 p.m. Admission tomorrow is $10 for adults. Sunday’s bands include Evolution, a Journey tribute band, and Heartbreaker, a Led Zeppelin tribute group. The first performs at 7:15 p.m. and admission that evening is $5 for adults.

“We knew if we went to a bigger space, we had to change our direction,” Crook said, and pay for national bands that would draw enough people to fill the stadium. “Yet we still managed to keep our main purpose, which is to recognize the ethnic diversity in our city.”

Traditional Portuguese music from East Providence’s Grupo Raizes will perform at the field tent at 5 p.m. tomorrow, and will be followed by Afro-Puerto Rican music and dance at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, Middle Eastern dance will be demonstrated at the field tent at 4 p.m. by Goddess Delight, a local group. The tent festivities on the final day will also include Jason Roseman and Tropical Gems, a Caribbean steel drums group.

In addition to the music, Curti — who scheduled nearly everything this year because of Crook’s impending retirement — started an artisan’s corner this year. She received a small grant from the Rhode Island Council on the Arts to have five Rhode Islanders demonstrate their craft — from handmade quilts to beaded jewelry to blacksmithing — in a designated area on the softball field.

Curti found a way to make all of this happen with $40,000 less than the department usually has for Heritage Days, Crook said. The city cut that much from its contribution to the event.

Crook said the department, before this year, spent about $120,000 on the event, which includes staff, advertisements and all other associated costs. He said stage setup, lights and sound equipment alone costs $30,000. The department also has to rent tents, RVs and pay for the acts.

It makes back some of the money from fees charged to vendors and admission, Crook continued. They also receive private donations from residents and businesses.

“It’s tough [with $80,000 instead of $120,000], but Heritage Days is worthwhile,” Crook said. “It has become part of the fabric of this community and for many East Providence folk, this is like a reunion. It’s lasted 28 years and that tells us we must be doing something right.”

For more information, call 435-7511.

apina@projo.com