Despite Hawaii’s statehood holiday, locally minded shoppers congested Oahu’s freeways and roadways surrounding the Neal S. Blaisdell Center on Friday as they made their way from all parts of the island to the annual Made in Hawaii Festival.

More than 50,000 people are expected to attend this year’s event over the weekend to snatch up locally made products including clothes, jewelry, food and crafts from 420 vendors.

“They’re just all coming from every direction. It’s a huge revenue generator,” said Amy Hammond, executive director of the Made in Hawaii Festival. “We’re pretty much at max capacity. We have taken efforts to try to help with traffic. We probably had hours and hours of meetings about traffic and parking.”

Honolulu Police Department officers were on-site helping with traffic, event organizers set up a valet serv­ice and required vendors to park at nearby McKinley High School to keep parking at the Blaisdell open for customers, “but it’s just still not able to handle the capacity,” she said.

The parking lot was full within half an hour of the 10 a.m. opening, said shopper Daysha Bush, who has come to the festival for 15 years in a row.

“They closed the parking; in like 20 minutes the lot was full. People were waiting out here to get in. Then to buy tickets from the box office, the line was all the way around the building,” she said. She stood in another two-hour line to buy clothes from one of her favorite Big Island retailers.

“No more parking but I come every year,” Bush said, adding that she spends an average $500 on one-of-a-kind items. “You can get stuff that you cannot buy from the stores every day. A lot of vendors, they wait for this craft fair to sell (their products), so you only can get it here. It’s the Hawaiian ‘Black Friday.’”

Over the years, the exposition has gained popularity with a 10,000 to 15,000 increase in attendees from five years ago, Hammond said. At least 30 people camped in line from 5 p.m. Thursday to get their hands on limited-edition trucker hats created by 808 All Day from Maui, she added.

“People want to be first to get in,” she said. “There were 80 people or more in line this morning when we opened at 10 a.m. It’s frustrating for consumers sometimes because they want to come in a lot earlier.”

Five years ago the event generated at least $10 million in revenue for retailers from Friday to Sunday and another $14 million from wholesale orders over the course of the year, according to a vendor survey. The numbers likely have increased with more attendees, but event organizers haven’t conducted a more recent survey of vendors, Hammond said.

“I feel like a big part of its success is it’s like a business incubator for small businesses,” said Hammond, who purchased a rare dark brown lau hala hat for $900 from a Big Island hat maker. Another one, more than 100 years old, was selling for $2,500. “These are really works of art.”

Clothing designer Lola Miller, owner of Simply Sisters from Hilo, said she is having the best sales in her fourth year at the Made in Hawaii Festival. She is expecting to make more than $50,000 in sales in three days, $20,000 more than last year.

“It is so crazy that the line just keeps going … since 10 a.m. nonstop. We had to bring more clothes this year. We have over 1,000 pieces; last year it was about 700. It seems like it grows every year. People are more loving Made in Hawaii products than ever. They want to support local … which is awesome.”

It was an all-day affair for Mililani resident Marie Edwards, 25, and her mother, who has attended the festival for the past three years. She arrived there at 8 a.m., two hours before it opened.

“We need to be more sustainable in Hawaii, so I think this is a good way to support the Hawaii vendors,” she said. “This is a good way for the local businesses to expand. Not everywhere you go has Hawaii kind of stuff. A lot of it is imported from the mainland.”

Local fashion designer Kini Zamora, 35, of Kapolei added that despite crazy traffic and “ridiculous” lines, the creativity seen at the festival is inspiring.

“It’s madness,” he said. “I’ve already seen so many things, and I haven’t even made it halfway through. Already in my head there’s a lot of money being spent. It’s amazing you can come here and support local and also see there’s amazing creative talent here and … bring back the economy here in Hawaii.”