Rain or shine, it’s time for Rain Day
Wednesday’s forecast for Waynesburg predicts a 40% chance of rain showers in the afternoon.
It’d be happening on the one day a year when nobody would mind.
The annual Rain Day celebration returns Wednesday, July 29, with games, food, two stages of live music, contests, awards and more.
This year, the end of the festival will move up two hours to 7 p.m., coinciding with the end of two-hour sets by the musical headliners, Nick Polito and Jimmy Buffett devotees Suns of Beaches.
Instead of the previous fireworks display, the festival will close with a foam party from 6 to 7, which people can enjoy while taking in the tunes in Monument and Fountain parks.
“We are excited to see our festival attendees dive into the towering foam, toss bubbles and dance in the foam,” said borough Manager Athena Bowman.
Festivities start at 11 a.m., when participants can twirl their best Rain Day-inspired designs on the Fountain Park stage with the umbrella contest.
Musicians play throughout the day on the main stage on Wayne Street and in Fountain Park, including Lee Alverson’s one-man, one-piano Elton John tribute at 1:30 p.m.
The kids’ area offers children’s games, inflatables, a balloonist, caricaturist Jeff Harris, strolling magician/juggler Howard Mincome, and characters like Cinderella and Baby Yoda making the rounds.
Even if it doesn’t rain, visitors can encounter the festival’s mascot, Wayne Drop, known as “the world’s largest rain drop,” throughout the day, Bowman said. And if they’re wandering through downtown Waynesburg, they can also spot his likeness in some of the many window displays from local businesses entering the annual Rain Day contest.
The new Miss Rain Day, who was crowned at a pageant Sunday night, will make the first of her many appearances at Greene County and regional events over the next year on Wednesday. She and the crowd will get to witness the crowning of Baby Rain Day and Mini, Little and Jr. Miss Rain Drop.
The Rain Day tradition dates back to the late 1800s, when local farmer Caleb Ely remarked to physician William Allison that it always seemed to rain on his birthday, July 29.
Intrigued, Allison began tracking the rainfall, which more often than not confirmed Ely’s observation.
Local newsman John O’Hara turned the quirky local celebration into a national story in the 1930s.
The same decade, the borough launched a Hat Bet tradition with a celebrity — whether Bing Crosby, Muhammad Ali or Jay Leno — on that year’s weather.
This year, it’s Waynesburg University graduate and San Diego Padres star Mason Miller’s turn to bet on a dry day.
If he loses — as the bettors usually do — he’ll have to give up his hat. Since Allison began tracking rain on Ely’s birthday, it’s rained 119 out of 152 years.
Some of the hats relinquished by past celebrities are on display in the window of the Waynesburg borough office.
While the Rain Day legend spread far and wide, the actual celebration was limited to a small observance on the steps of the county courthouse. That changed in 1979, when the borough’s Special Events Committee began celebrating Rain Day with an annual festival.
As it’s a free event, there’s no sure way to know how many people turn out for Rain Day events throughout the day, Bowman said. But they have some idea: two years ago, Greene County Tourism used a program that pings cellphone usage within the festival area to estimate about 6,000 people attended.
“It’s a day when residents and visitors alike gather to celebrate the town’s unique identity of celebrating rain, from its weather lore to its community spirit,” Bowman said.
For a full listing of events, go to raindayfestival.com/event-schedule.