Rain ? heavy at times ? dampened attendance at Johns Hopkins University?s annual spring fair over the weekend.
Many of the scheduled outdoor concerts were called off because of the weather.
Even after the clouds cleared and the sun started popping through Sunday afternoon, a sparse audience gathered at the stage in front of Gilman Hall for a performance by Super Threat Three.
You could even find a parking space on Charles Street in front of campus.
Andrew Blessing ? a manager with Chesapeake Foods, which was selling funnel cakes and turkey legs ? had just one word to say about the weather and its impact on business: “Terrible.”
“Friday was a little slow,” he said. “Saturday was the worst day.”
His sales that weekend had probably been about a quarter of what was typical. But as an outdoor caterer, you have to expect bad weather sometimes, he said.
“Even when you get the rain, it?s still fun,” he said. “You get to meet different people.”
“I?ve had a great time,” echoed Nick Evoy, an 18-year-old freshman from Bethesda who is majoring in biomedical engineering. He had tickets to the Brand New concert Saturday night on campus, which was sold out and held inside.
Meanwhile, he and other fair volunteers were helping fellow volunteer Kaitlin Sheehan, a 21-year-old engineering student, fashion a rain poncho out of a garbage bag and duct tape.
“As you can see, we?ve developed some attire appropriate for the event,” she joked.
The fair has been a spring tradition since the 1970s, though it seems to have shrunk over the years.
A campus security officer attributed that to all the new development on campus, which leaves less room.
Officer Robert Wright has worked for the university for about 15 years and said he remembers the fair being much bigger.
