AMBLER – Rainy conditions didn’t stop people from moving and grooving at last weekend’s Ambler Arts & Music Festival.

The 14th annual festivities kicked off last Friday evening with food, shopping and live entertainment as crowds descended on the downtown borough.“Friday started out beautifully,” Wahl Kunzier told The Ambler Gazette, adding the June 13 event “was perfect. It was totally crowded.”

While Ambler Main Street Manager Elizabeth Wahl Kunzier kept a constant eye on the forecast, she estimated some 20,000 people came to town for the first day of the weekend festival. Attendees strolled along Butler Avenue, ate at food trucks, perused artisan vendor tables, and checked out many of the town’s brick-and-mortar shops and restaurants.

“Friday was the biggest turnout we’ve ever had,” she said, instead likening it to more that of “a Saturday turnout.”

Wahl Kunzier observed that “the entirety of Cavalier was packed,” referring to the borough parking lot where the music stage was situated.

Ambler Arts and Music Festival ‘ran super smoothly’ despite weather temporarily halting opening

The two-day musical acts consisted of Alex Shillo & Badland’s Tribute to Bruce Springsteen, Bare Knuckle Boxers, Ear Me Now, Fallon’s Religion, Jessie’s Girl – Back to the Eighties Show, Ndichu, Parkway Soul, Reddio, Steal the Night, and The Verdict Reggae Soca Band, according to the festival’s website.

But the weather remained on Wahl Kunzier’s mind going into the second and final day.

“I left Friday feeling so hopeful, and then I checked the weather app Saturday morning, and I was like, ‘oh no,’” she said as dreary conditions persisted throughout the morning.

Advertised as a “rain or shine event,” Wahl Kunzier noted a handful of vendors did not show up for the festival’s second day due to weather conditions.

“The weather always plays a role in it. It plays a role in how well the beer gardens do, which is huge because that’s where we make most of our profits,” she said.

While final numbers have yet to be tallied from the beer garden, Wahl Kunzier observed “Friday night they were really doing, famously.” She added that she hoped “the surplus on Friday night will help” make up for Saturday.

“We started the day with a really good band,” Wahl Kunzier said, “and they were so positive. There was hardly anyone there, but they were so positive and they played great songs.”

Ambler ready for spring with First Friday kicking off 2025 event slate

Conditions improved around 3 p.m. just as Bare Knuckle Boxers got on stage, she said.

“The weather cleared up and they got everybody dancing again, and the kids were dancing,” she said. “So that was great, and the weather stayed fine, and people came out, and then people started shopping at the vendors.”

Wahl Kunzier recalled a roughly six-hour stretch of cloudy skies and a break in the rain, which lasted until “about half an hour into the closing act, the big raindrop started to fall, but people stayed. It wasn’t a cold rain, and people stayed, and people danced in the rain.”