GREENVILLE – An economic boom soared into Greenville this weekend as thousands of spectators and participants in the 28th annual International Seaplane Fly-In landed in town.

Stores and shops were packed with customers and every restaurant in town had a waiting line Saturday afternoon.

“This is the best I’ve ever seen,” said organizer Frank Woodworth of Detroit.

In addition to the games, antics and showmanship displayed by the pilots, visitors also enjoyed locally sponsored cookouts, a craft fair, and the scenic vistas Moosehead Lake provides.

Woodworth said the event drew 550 planes to the airport and 160 to the lake.

Four friends and pilots flew to Maine from Orange County, N.Y., especially for the event.

“This is the best seaplane show in the country, probably in the world,” said Paul Orsini of Goshen, N.Y.

Orsini should know. He not only pilots his own planes, including a seaplane, but he has traveled the globe seeking out other seaplane events. “The one in Alaska is beautiful but it can’t hold a candle to Maine. This is the sixth time I’ve been here.”

The flight from New York took the quartet just 21/2 hours. “A day trip,” Orsini called it.

His companions, Bob Pierro, George Hayes and Tony Tvaryanas, all are members of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Tucson pilot Celese Rei came to Maine for a different reason. “I came to get my seaplane rating,” she said.

Rei arrived in August with a valid single-engine land license and obtained her seaplane license as an add-on.

“Maine is absolutely beautiful,” she said. “The water is amazingly fresh and clear. The people are so friendly.”

Rei admitted that a female seaplane pilot is a rarity.

Woodworth said two female pilots attended the fly-in. “Generally, only five percent of all pilots are women,” he said.

Rei said that although she loves flying all planes, she is entranced with seaplanes. “I love the water, the air, and the combination,” she said. “You get to land in some really beautiful places and you’re already there.”

The annual fly-in began as a “call to the wild” for some bush pilots nearly 30 years ago and now is considered the longest-running seaplane fly-in in the world. During the three-day festival, pilots tested their skills through a series of takeoffs, spot landings, accuracy drops, taxi slaloms and flybys.

On Friday, seminars were offered to pilots by representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration and Stobie Air Hangar, the headquarters of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, was filled with exhibits on safety and trade information set up by flying clubs.

All eyes were upward Saturday and Sunday as plane after plane landed or buzzed East Cove of Moosehead Lake. Thousands of spectators watched the sky, pointed at planes or sent up shouts when a particularly good landing or “bomb” drops was observed.

Woodworth said the event had drawn pilots from all over New England and beyond. “This just gets better every year,” he said.