A weekend packed with events in Gainesville is also expected to lead to an uptick in traffic delays in the coming days.

Mule Camp Market, which runs Friday through Sunday, will lead to road closures through most of the weekend. The downtown square and roads around the square will close about 5 p.m. Thursday and won’t reopen until about 8 p.m. Sunday.

Gainesville Police are advising people to use the downtown parking decks, which will be open.

Mule Camp runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday in the Gainesville square.

According to the Gainesville Jaycees website, the regional event is the “single largest annual event hosted in Hall County” with crowds of 75,000 attending the three-day festival. A carnival is held in conjunction with Mule Camp every year.

This festival showcases mountain arts and crafts. Families can enjoy mule rides, live music and fair cuisine, while kids enjoy the petting zoo and other activities.

Georgia Mountains YMCA will host its second annual Mule Camp Market 5K at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. The 5-kilometer race will feature a new route in downtown Gainesville, including running over the pedestrian bridge and through the greenway. Prizes will be awarded in all age groups.

Registration costs $35. Proceeds will provide swim lessons and other programs to underserved families in the community. For more information on the 5K, call Greg Supianoski at the Georgia Mountains YMCA at 770-297-9622 or visit www.gamountainsymca.org/mulecamp5k.

Also in town this weekend are the Georgia Fall Games for the Special Olympics, which run from Friday through Sunday at various sites.

With so much happening in town, Gainesville Police Sgt. Kevin Holbrook wrote in an email that “we only ask that the motoring public buckle up and drive safe.”