With all the rain that�s fallen during Canal Fest one could be excused for thinking they were in Venice, Italy rather than the Tonawandas.

OK, it�s not quite that bad; Webster Street hasn�t turned into a canal. Although brighter and drier days are in store, it certainly has been a soggy week for the premiere event of the Twin Cities.

�It�s been a bummer for Canal Fest,� said Jack Kanack, a weather spotter who resides in North Tonawanda. Kanack, who�s served as a spotter since 1981, said Monday has been the only rain-free day during the festival, although only a trace of rain fell Sunday.

Rain appeared to keep crowds down Tuesday � it poured during the parade, though many still turned out � and Thursday. In fact, Thursday�s annual diaper derby was moved to the Elks Lodge to keep baby bottoms from getting any wetter than from what their owners contribute.

�You haven�t had those chamber of commerce-type sun shiny days,� Kanack observed.

Larry Denef, Canal Fest president, said the rain hasn�t affected crowds as much as it may appear. For example, although rain came down in buckets during the parade he estimated three-quarters of the usual crowd braved the deluge to line up along the streets.

�(The rain) hasn�t overly affected the crowds; we�re doing OK,� Denef said. �We thought last summer was bad, then you get one of these. You work around it.�

After another cloud burst had passed through Thursday evening, Denef noted that people were back on the streets, making the evening appear to be a �typical day� at Canal Fest.

When the storms roll through, Denef said some people simply open their umbrellas while others duck for cover underneath festival tents. Some aren�t deterred at all by the rain, preferring to walk the grounds without rain gear.

�It�s nice out here now, the sun is peeking through,� Denef said around 8 p.m. Thursday. �The streets are pretty full, the midway�s busy, the Ferris wheel is going. It�s almost like a typical day.�

Heavy rain began to fall Wednesday just as the annual car cruise was ending. That storm, and the rain that soaked the area through Thursday afternoon, was part of a system that moved north from Pennsylvania, said Jon Hitchcock, a meteorologist at the Buffalo office of the National Weather Service.

�A large area of rain developed over Western Pennsylvania, came up through Lake Erie and hit far Western New York,� Hitchcock said. �The Tonawandas got significantly more than the Buffalo airport.�

While the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport recorded 1.16 inches of rain from 9 p.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday, local weather spotters recorded higher amounts. A spotter in Kenmore reported 1.75 inches while a spotter in the Town of Tonawanda observed 2.06 inches. Nearly 2.5 inches were recorded at the Niagara Falls airport.

And Kanack said his rain gauge collected 2.3 inches of rain in NT from 10:30 p.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday.

�For 19 and a half hours, that�s pretty significant,� Kanack said. �Any time you get two inches of rain it�s a significant weather event,� adding the 27-year average he�s recorded for the entire moth of July is 3.05 inches.

Before Wednesday night�s rain, people were on the streets in droves. Denef said it may have been the most heavily attended night ever for Canal Fest.

�The streets were jam-packed with people and cars,� Denef said.

Hitchcock said better days are ahead for the weekend, which could trigger large crowds again.

Scattered showers and storms are in the forecast for today, although they shouldn�t be as frequent as what was experienced Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures are expected to climb into the 80s Saturday and Sunday. With the exception of a Saturday night cold front rushing through the area, bringing another round of rain, both days should be ideal for Canal Fest.

�The daytime looks good,� Hitchcock said. �There should be extended rain-free periods over the weekend.�

Even if the skies open up, Denef expects the annual arts and crafts show to attract large crowds this weekend. He said he wouldn�t be surprised to see upwards of 50,000 per day packing the streets.

�They�ll be there; they all come out for it,� Denef said. �Whether it�s 90 degrees or raining. They like their crafts and they�re a hardy bunch.�

According to Hitchcock, it�s been 17 years since we�ve had a summer as cold and rainy as 2009, and that wasn�t because of a low-pressure trough settling overhead like we�ve experienced for much of this summer. Instead, it was a volcanic eruption. Dust and other elements that entered the stratosphere from Mount Pinatubo�s June 1991 eruption in the Philippines caused temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere to drop a full degree and created a wet, cold summer in 1992.

Contact night city editor John Hopkins at 693-1000, ext. 150.