Saturday was quite a day for those who enjoy festivals andoutdoor fun, with the Brookhaven Master Gardeners’ Spring GardeningExtravaganza and the Wesson Founders Day Festival providing venuesfor shoppers and browsers alike.

In spite of threatening weather, officials of both outdoorevents say they’re pleased with the turnouts.

“It was a great day and as you know we worried all day that therain would mess us up,” said Master Gardeners Past President KarenSullivan. “And as much as we appreciate the rain, we appreciate itnot raining while we were out there.”

Wesson Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Brewer said Saturdaynight’s events seemed to be in jeopardy from the rain. He said,however, that the major events of the day such as the Deal or NoDeal game and the barbecue cook-off were unaffected and wentextremely smooth.

“Actually, most of the day went off without a hitch,” he said.”All the Deal or No Deals went out, and the cook-off finished up,and everyone got their chicken and ribs without worrying about therain.”

And according to officials, vendors at both events were pleasedwith the outcome of the day.

“Everybody did great, and all the vendors seemed to be veryhappy with their sales,” said Sullivan. “One of the vendors told usthat it was so nice selling and talking to people who are reallyinterested in gardening and already know what they’re doing.”

The Founders Day Festival committee was worried about thevendors because they changed the time of the gala from mid-summerto April, but Brewer said that turned out to be a good move.

“The turnout was really good compared to recent years,” he said.”We were a little concerned about moving it with the vendors, butthe numbers stayed the same and participation was a lot better. Ithink the cloud cover kept it cooler.”

Sullivan said the threat of rain sent some attendees inBrookhaven out early in the day rather than in the afternoon, sothe morning crowd was a little thicker.

“We had a better turnout this morning, but this afternoon, wefelt like people thought it was going to rain,” she said. “But itwas good considering the threat of the weather. We’re lookingforward to next year, trying to make the event even better, becausewe think it’s a really good thing.”

Brewer said while the rain may have officially canceled someevents later in the evening, it didn’t dampen the spirits of theattendees.

“There are still people out here,” he said on Saturday evening.”They’re doing an extra Deal or No Deal in the rain, if that tellsyou what kind of turnout we’re having.”