Despite the rain, many residents still came out to enjoy the Palmerton Community Festival.

"I guess you can only get so wet. Once you're wet, you're wet," said Emmy Glick, owner of Knockerball. "You can get warm in these balls."

Knockerballs are large, plastic balls that a person slips over his or her chest and then bounces into things - other people, the ground.

Glick, of Quarryville, said despite the steady rain, she still had at least a couple dozen people pay to play Knockerball. Friday night was another story.

"Last night, all you could see (on the playing field) was balls going up and down," she said. Glick was very busy.

Some people found that a smaller crowd turned out pretty nice for them.

One little boy from Palmerton won a prize at every game he tried and rode several rides, too.

"I won three prizes. These were the only games we played, so I got lucky," 7-year-old Dillon said.

The weather didn't dampen the spirits of many of the children at the festival. Teens competed to see how much rain they could collect in their poncho, and children still feasted on cotton candy.

"It's just water," Amanda Ahner said.

The drenching rain Saturday afternoon certainly didn't hurt anyone walking around the festival, but it did create some swampy spots and puddles.

The big white tent covering the crafters presented a relief from umbrellas, but the pooling water caused patrons to tip-toe around the water edges and the edges of the display tables.

First-time Palmerton Festival craft vendors, 2 Old Crafters, from Perkasie were fortunate enough to be on the high side of the tent. Marvin Hager said he and his wife, Beverly Hager, sold several of the hard shell gourd creations.

Saturday was a little less, of course.

Referring to the showers, Hager said it's "the benefit of doing outdoor shows - rain or shine."

The older couple decorates the hard shell gourds in fall themes with jack-o-lantern style faces, ghosts and more.

"She does the fancy work, and I do the dirty work," Hager said. He cleans out all of those seeds from the gourds, then turns it over to Beverly to beautify.

By 4 p.m. festival officials announced entertainment would be canceled for the evening. Vendors had the option of staying or packing up early. People came for take-outs of their favorite foods.

The Palmerton Community Festival continues Sunday until 9 p.m. - rain or shine.