Severe weather warnings and driving rain throughout the day Saturday couldn’t damper the enthusiasm of the nearly 3,000 attendees of the Tuscaloosa Crawfish Boil.

”Although attendance was anticipated to reach almost 7,000, the event was a success considering the weather,” said Heath Wyatt, owner of Brown’s Dueling Piano Bar and organizer of the festival along with his brother Keith.

Wyatt had to push the event back from its original starting time of 11 a.m., first to 2 p.m. and then to its eventual kick-off at 4:30 p.m.

“We had to run back and forth to set up until the last big rain came through,” Wyatt said.

Because of these postponements, he had to cancel the first two bands, blues singer Elnora Spencer and local southern rock group Whiskey River Band, as well as the children’s events coordinated by the Children’s Hands on Museum and local vendors.

“It was disappointing because a lot of good vendors and artists were supposed to show off some of their work,” Wyatt said.

By 8 p.m., the crowd was increasing quickly as the first band, Uri, was playing.

Uri, a Tuscaloosa-based group, plays an event in town nearly every weekend, said lead guitarist Wayne Sagirs. Their music is an eclectic mix of hip-hop, rock, funk and jazz, Sagirs said.

Although people were slow to come out, the members of Uri enjoyed playing at the event, which Sagirs said provided a great stage and nice equipment. He described the Crawfish Boil as a much bigger event than ever before in Tuscaloosa, one that has the potential to revive the thriving music and culture scene of years past.

“The weather really put a cramp in the style of the whole event tonight, but playing here was a lot of fun,” Sagirs said. “Passion was everywhere, coming from us and from the fans.”

After Uri performed, many people were eager to see the next bands in the line-up, local rock group Southern Distortion and North Carolina-based rock/country group American Aquarium.

“The bands have been really fun and lively,” said Ashley Joyner, a freshman majoring in chemical engineering. “It’s been better than I expected. The food is really good, and I would definitely come out again.”

Joyner and her friends came to the festival specifically to see American Aquarium, whom they’ve often seen play at other venues. The biggest draw was the headliner, country music star Clay Walker, who played at the end of the night. For many festival-goers, however, the music wasn’t the prime attraction.

“I just came for the crawfish,” said Ken Romain. “They’re delicious.”

A long-time Tuscaloosa resident, Romain has attended a number of festivals, such as previous crawfish boils and the now-defunct CityFest.

“The food’s better here, and there are always quality bands,” he said. “But it’s hard to tell what the atmosphere is like because the weather has calmed it down so much.”

Food vendors at the event included Dreamland, Mellow Mushroom, and Wintzell’s, but by far the most popular was Bone’s Crawfish, who ended up selling about 4,000 pounds of mudbugs.

“At 11 it looked like it was going to be a bad day, but it turned out a lot better than I thought,” said Bone’s owner Steve Dunn.

Many people who purchased advance tickets arrived at 11 a.m. solely to eat the crawfish, but they were waiting outside and couldn’t get in. Dunn spoke with the Wyatts about the problem, and they gave him the go-ahead to start selling his crawfish.

“I sold them over the fence, and it was kinda like we had a drive-up going on out there,” he said. “I’d sold 1,000 pounds before they were even letting anyone in the gate.”

Dunn considered his participation in the event a success, despite the rain, saying that, “as long as the festival’s there, I’ll be there.”

The Wyatts, who have received a great amount of support from event sponsors and the city of Tuscaloosa, would like to make the Tuscaloosa Crawfish Boil an annual event, as well as organize a few other festivals throughout the year.

“It’s great to be a part of something like this because it’s been a long time since downtown has seen something like that,” Wyatt said. “We’ve had a glimpse of what it could be, and it could become one of the biggest festivals in west Alabama.”