Whether the lure was Playboy Playmates, Bubba Sparxxx or all the giveaways, thousands of college students from the Boston area headed to Hynes Convention Center this weekend for the 21st annual CollegeFest.

More than 90 sponsors handed out goodies that included piggybank keychains, t-shirts, energy drink samples and Frisbees, and students received a bag filled with coupons upon entering the Convention Center. As students left the hall, their bags were bulging with whatever the 90 booths had to offer.

Kate Cimini, a Simmons College sophomore, missed out on CollegeFest last year, and decided to come this year for a simple reason.

“Free stuff,” she said. “Because there’s free stuff and we’re all broke. The music is excellent too.”

Performers included local bands The Eclectic Collective and Violet Nine, regional independent artists Jared Campbell and Matt White and headliners Damian “Junior Gong” Marley and Bubba Sparxxx.

One of the more crowded booths was manned by the Italian restaurant Vinny T’s of Boston, which gave away cannolis when students signed up for their email list.

“Yesterday, we got over 1,200 of these filled out,” said 21-year-old Candice LaPann, a Vinny T’s representative working the booth. “So that’s over 1,200 new customers.”

LaPann said the booth’s popularity was not surprising, especially with college students because “they’ll do anything for free food.”

There was no shortage of interested students at any of the stalls, whether they were gawking at the stiltwalker and evil clown from Barrett’s Haunted Mansion or designing a purse for the accessory outfitter World According to Jess.

“We target college students only, so why not be here?” said Yan Truong, who was handing out whiteboards for the discount airline company StudentUniverse.com, which was also giving away $10,000 at the event. “Students like the giveaways. It builds more awareness about our company.”

Samantha Smith, a Boston University College of Communication junior, said even though this was her first year, she would recommend CollegeFest to everyone.

“[It’s] especially for freshman, because the college experience is here and you need a lot of free stuff to start off your school year,” she said.

Although Smith came for the free giveaways, she was also excited about an appearance by reality TV celebrities Danny and Melinda of the Real World.And for those willing to wait in lines, students could have autographs and photos taken with Playmates at the Playboy booth.

Danielle Cyr, a Massachusetts College of Pharmacy freshman, said she would also recommend the event for other college freshman.

“Get them involved, get them doing stuff around the area,” she said, adding: “I had nothing better to do today. Except homework.”

According to Matt Britton, president of CollegeFest promotions, the event — which began planning back in March — drew up to 15,000 college student.

“It’s turned into an institution for Boston-area students,” he said. “They come back year after year. It doesn’t cost a lot of money, they can see live music, eat local food and actually come back to the dorms with a bag of free stuff.”

Ben Sturner, 1999 COM graduate and public relations director for Mr.Youth Promotions — which put on CollegeFest — said he and BU graduates Britton and Paul Tedeschi stayed in touch after graduating and were able to collaborate for the event.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Sturner said. “It just so happened that we stayed pretty tight.”

Turner added that CollegeFest was an event that had an impact on his own college experience.

“We all went to CollegeFest when we were in college,” he said. “One thing we never forgot about it was coming back with a bag of free stuff. And that still happens today.”