HANCOCK — Wherever you were on Quincy Street Friday night, there was music within earshot, food nearly within reach, and crowds of people looking to sample all of it.

Friday’s Key Ingredients event in Hancock included samplings from local restaurants, performances from local musicians stationed throughout downtown, and other live activities and demonstrations.

Outside the Copper Country Community Arts Center, Tammy Gajewski was one of several artists on hand to explain their process. She’s been painting for 45 years, mostly oils. Friday night, she was watercolor painting.

“I like to do watercolors while my oil paintings are drying,” she said.

She’s done Key Ingredients for the past three years. The paintings — in Friday’s case, of a frog — take a couple of hours. People got to see the prep work Friday night. After that, she planned to take them home to finish the details.

“People kind of like to see how things are made, and it’s easy to do,” she said. “One year I’m not going to do it so I can go snack everywhere like everybody else.”

Nisu Bakery prepared 210 samples of Finnish cinnamon cardamom rolls, which were being eagerly snatched up. Owner Irma Boyd said she was happy to share Finnish culture with a large crowd, both residents and tourists.

“We want to show the community that we are enjoying this area, this community, and that we want to partake in things,” she said. “We are loving that things are happening in Hancock, too, that Hancock is active.”

WolvenWood Axe Bar was participating in its first Key Ingredients after opening last fall. Kids got to try a lower-risk version of the pastime, hurling plastic axes at targets a few feet away.

Cory Saunders said participating in Key Ingredients was a chance to introduce people to the new business, which he called “a place where everyone can feel they have something to connect with.”

Key Ingredients had been a fantastic time, he said.

“Families get to come in and experience something new, and that’s what makes the U.P. the U.P.,” he said. “Being together and trying something new and exploring, that’s what we’re all about up here, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Sunflower Cafe & Books started doing Key Ingredients three years ago, serving up bite-size portions of scones like cranberry white chocolate and cinnamon chip. Every year, there’s a few more customers who say they tried the samples and want to buy the full-size version, said owner Susan Mattila.

“Depending on what the weather is, people stop in, they might grab some ice cream, they might buy a drink as well,” she said. “There’s a lot of people here that might not always come to Hancock, and there’s a lot of people here in general.”

Maddy Strong of Hancock decided to come after seeing the event from Facebook. Until Friday, she’d never tried the pizza from Studio Pizza, which she said was “really good.”

“I think it’s amazing having the community have something like this for other people to come to,” she said. “I think it’s a really good way to get people to try new things and see new things that they might not have looked at if they were just driving by.”