SYRACUSE, N.Y. --This should be a big weekend for events in Downtown Syracuse. 

The first weekend of May is known as the unofficial start to "festival season" in Clinton Square.

The 11th annual Crawfish Festival takes place Saturday. The Mountain Goat Run is Sunday.

Numerous festivals will draw thousands of people to downtown over the next few months, giving the local economy a nice boost.

The festivals also generally attract quite a few people who work in the city.

"One of the things we love to promote about downtown, especially because of the number of festivals, many happening in Clinton Square, it's like 12 built-in office parties. Because so many festivals happen on a Friday to be able to have the employee population take advantage of it," said Syracuse Downtown Committee Executive Director Merike Trier. 

The Downtown Farmers market, which starts on the second Tuesday of June, is also a popular attraction. 

For a full list of downtown events, visit events.downtownsyracuse.com/.