But the attendance was so impressive that first year he never had that problem again.

For this year's event, the juried festival received about 600 applications for 380 available spots. Those selected will be coming from 16 states, as far away as Minnesota and New York, said Joy Ennis, the town's festival director.

Miller, the founder of Lazy Daze and an artist who does paintings and drawings of historic sites in Cary and throughout North Carolina, became involved through his position on the board of what was then Southern National Bank.

He managed to get the bank to agree to sponsor an event in Cary. A golf or tennis tournament was discussed, but Miller brought up the idea of an arts festival.

Miller had been going to arts festivals for about 10 years and had connections from around the state to help make it happen. He talked to hundreds of artists and got about 100 to show up, not really knowing what to expect.

"You wouldn't believe how many people came out," Miller said, "and I never, ever had to beg anyone again to come to Lazy Daze."

Cary's parks department was involved with the festival from the beginning, but it took over direction of the festival nine years ago.

As the town's festival director, Ennis has been in charge of putting on Lazy Daze since then.

"Because it's a juried show, you get different artists each year," Ennis said.

The planners also try to add something new each year, she said.

For this year, it is a chainsaw sculpting competition, with artists turning logs into summertime scenes.

Also, there will be a "Jerry doll" hunt, with five dolls featuring the Lazy Daze logo of a man lounging against a tree with his dog.

Children will receive a ticket for each doll they find and discovering all five makes them eligible for a drawing for prizes.

The logo dates to the original festival, when Miller's daughter Julie, then 13, came up with the idea and sketched it out.

Curtis Krueger, a photographer from Wilmington who first exhibited at the show more than 15 years ago, said the economy has hurt sales for the last five years, but that it is still worth it to come out to the show.

"It's a good show to say you're in," Krueger said.

Krueger said positive word of mouth among artists has helped the show grow.

He finds Cary people knowledgeable and enthusiastic about art.

At a lot of shows, Krueger said, he doesn't even bother to set up until 10 a.m. or so, because people don't get out until later.

But at Lazy Days it's different.

"There are people looking at artwork at 8:30, 9 o'clock," Krueger said.

And festival veterans know, it's better to get there early.