Every year in Seneca Falls, New York, a festival celebrates It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra’s heartwarming 1946 drama about the trials and triumphs of a family man named George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart in a beloved role.

Thousands of visitors descend on the hamlet, which boosters say bears a striking resemblance to Bedford Falls, the Bailey family’s charming and tight-knit hometown. The festivalgoers can meet cast members or, as they did this year, attend a dance at a high school gymnasium that hopefully won’t end like the film’s comically disastrous one does, with decked-out revellers cannonballing into a swimming pool.