Mullet festival gets wet

Organizers expect today to be much better weather-wise for Swansboro's 54th annual Mullet Festival.

The state's second oldest festival made it through its first day with rainwater weighing down vendor tents and nearly every festival goer hidden under umbrellas Saturday. The beach bands had to be canceled and rain fell almost all day, but the festival still drew large crowds of soaking wet people.

"A lot more people than I thought would, showed up in the rain," said festival Director Judy Hailey. "We had a decent crowd throughout the day."

But the rain is over for now, according to the National Weather Service in Newport. Today should be in the upper 70s with no rain.

"It will be a better day for it," said duty forecaster Casey Dail. "There may be a few clouds in the morning, but it should be sunny the rest of the day."

Beach bands crank up the volume today at 9 a.m. after a quiet Saturday. Rained out from Saturday, the "Carousels" and "The 4 Knights" will join the regularly scheduled entertainment of "Still Cruzin'" and Terence Lonon.

"The O'Kaysions" and "The Tams" had to cancel their concerts Saturday since the beach bands could not play on a noncovered stage with their electronic sound equipment and the festival scheduled to go till 9 wound down at 5 p.m.

It has been three or four years since rain crashed Swansboro's yearly party.

"This is the second Mullet Festival I've been to," said Greensboro resident Jean Anne Garth. "And the second time it's rained."

Organizers were optimistic early Saturday that the skies would clear after lunch, but it never happened.

Members of the nonprofit Swansboro Festival Committee did not let the rain deter them from having fun and putting on the best possible festival they could, Hailey said.

"We are committed to doing what our vendors want to do and by them showing up (Saturday) morning, they said 'this is what we want to do,'" she said.

Every scheduled vendor but two participated in the festival Saturday.

Business owners hoping to see a spike in business said the rain didn't hamper them too much as the festival drew the crowd and the weather forced them into local shops.

Activities at the second stage near the kids' area will continue today, including: a mullet throw, a fossil dig, and the new outreach vehicle for the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. And of course, downtown Swansboro will be full of arts and craft vendors, food tents and fried mullet.

Contact crime reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456. Read Lindell's blog at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.