On the eve of the main day of Jefferson City's premier annual festival, the carnival on Capitol Avenue was a ghost town with the exception a couple dozen of carnival workers.
Huddled in small groups under trees beside their RVs, they chatted with each other amid light-but-steady rain.
The carnival, like most other events, wasn't set to open for another two hours, and Mary Reinke was trying to stay positive.
Reinke's family owns and operates Southern Fun Carnival, which, for the past dozen years, has provided the festival's 30 or so carnival games, 18 rides and five food trucks.
Based in southern Missouri, the carnival operates from June through September each year, and July 4 is typically their biggest payday.
"This is the first time it's been really bad with the rain," she said. "To lose two days to rain is really hard for us. But we're all hopeful. Tomorrow's going to be good."
She had the weather forecast on her side. It called for scattered showers throughout Sunday, but cloudy skies and just a 20 percent chance of rain Monday.
By 2:30 p.m., signs of life were starting to emerge. Food workers were setting up, and festival organizers were readying the EcoWater stage at the corner of High and Madison streets for the Starlight Memories Band to start its classic rock show at 4 p.m.
Families were also starting to mill about downtown.
Brian and Jennifer Pace brought their five kids early, eager to start their Fourth of July fun. First on their list: getting an annual caricature of their family by Jim Dyke, political cartoonist for the News Tribune and owner of Cottonstone Gallery.
As they celebrated the fourth birthday of daughter, Savannah, they also looked forward to the festival's concerts, barbecue and fireworks.
They come every year, and a little rain wasn't about to ruin their tradition.
"It's only water," Brian Pace said.
His wife added: "I just have a good time every year I come down here, even if it's just the people watching."
Festival Director Jill Snodgrass said the main problem organizers have had is that setting up stages takes longer in the rain.
"But we're on target and everything's ready to go," she said. "It's crazy how dedicated our volunteers are that they are working nonstop during the rain to set up and break down."
That's the problem that caused the cancellation of two of the four bands at Saturday's "Inside the Walls" concert featuring Travis Tritt.
Tritt and Hillbilly Vegas performed, but TheShotgunBillys and Jason Bertrand Music's performances were canceled.
Snodgrass said it was disappointing, but they had to do that because of the extended setup times required for the bands because of the rain.
She had no plans for any further cancellations.
"We hope that people come out and enjoy themselves," she said. "We have an awesome lineup. Seventeen city blocks of really, really good stuff."
By 4 p.m. Sunday, High Street was looking more like a festival, with crowds beginning to gather and the smell of food wafting in the air. Things were looking up for Reinke and the carnival workers.
The life of a carnival worker is fun, she said, but lot's of hard work. It's also hard to find employees for the seasonal jobs. Many of the 48 employees are tied to her family, she said.
"That's the life we chose. We can't control the weather. We're very optimistic people or we wouldn't be in this business," she said with a laugh.