It is said a lot depends on the weather.

That axiom rang true over the weekend when lightning struck and torrential rain poured down Saturday afternoon on the 19th Annual Rochester Country Fair, curtailing or cancelling some events.

Still, organizers for the old-fashioned country fair say folks squeezed a lot of good times out of the four-day event, which brought crowds out despite high humidity and some stormy weather.

The fair opened on a humid Thursday evening under sunny skies. Visitors enjoyed an antique tractor pull, a sock hop dance, a frog racing derby, live stock exhibits, and the fair's first ever beer and wine garden.

Weather cooperated on day two, allowing the anticipated return of the Woodsman Show Competition, as well as livestock exhibitions, and more antique tractor pulling, all of which drew large crowds.

But come late Saturday afternoon, the skies darken and lightning crackled through the air. Several lightning strikes were reported in and around the Pine Street fair grounds.

“It was busy Saturday during the morning and day,” said Fred Clay, who manned the miniature golf course most of the weekend with his son Carter, 17. “We had a lot of people here until about 5 p.m. and then it poured down and lightning struck that tree over there.”

Wind caused several of the tents housing vendors or exhibits to be blown off, but the lightning shut the fair down for the night, cancelling several key attractions, including live professional wrestling matches, tractor pulling events, musical entertainment, and the beer and wine garden.

“It was a hard call to make, but we had to do it for the safety of everyone,” fair organizer Andy Harding said Sunday morning as he stood next to a busy tractor pull track.

The following day, people were still talking about the storm.

“We had a quite a storm last night,” Madeline Gwozdz, owner of Flying Cloud Orchards in Acushnet, said Sunday morning at her fruit and baked goods stand. “Over here canopies were flying everywhere.”

From the Rochester Historical Society's tent, adjacent to the lightning strike, historical society member Connie Eshbach could see and hear the commotion.

“We saw that lighting bolt, but we could also hear it sizzle, which was bad because we were holding onto the metal poles of our tent so it wouldn't blow away,” Eshbach said.

The sun peaked through from time to time on Sunday at 9 a.m. and most exhibitors and vendors re-opened.

“We've got about three weeks of work before we can close it out, but I'm starting to relax, and catch up on my house work,” Rochester Country Fair Board member Kelly Morgado said the Tuesday after the fair ended.

Morgado said everything was going great until Saturday night.

“We could have hit an all time record for attendance if we did not lose Saturday night,” she said. “It was awful; it was just horrendous. The skies just opened. We were tracking the storm. We knew there was some rain coming. It's no big deal. We've had it before at the fair. We had fun playing in the mud. Then we had one huge clap of thunder, and that's when people started to leave the property and the fair was closed.”

When the crowd leaves, so do revenues, organizers say. Saturday night at any gathering is usually where profits are made. If event planners lose that opportunity, it could have a bad outcome.

“Saturday killed us. We probably lost $10,000, if not more,” Morgado said. “We'll be able to pay our bills this year, but maybe not have a reserve for next year. That's the scary part. If we need to, we'll do a lot more fundraising,” Morgado said.

On a happier note, Morgado said she was pleased with the people who stepped up to help out at the fair.

“The people that showed up to staff the fair were amazing,” Morgado said. “The people that showed up at the last minute, I mean literally the last minute were amazing, and they all want to come back. I can't thank them enough.”