Severe Weather Costs Mayfest Artists Thousands Of Dollars

John and Mickey Tracy have been traveling the country selling their paintings for 50 years.

Neither one of them have ever had a job.

"This has been our lives. Mickey does the framing, Mickey is my wife, neither one of us have ever had a job, but we work at this 24 hours a day,” said Tracy.  

Saturday's storms forced organizers to close Mayfest for several hours, during the festivals busiest time.

When it finally reopened, some artists decided not to open their booths.

"It took a big chunk of the festival out. Since we shortened the festival from four days to three days, losing three quarters of one day is a pretty large chunk and the busiest day of the weekend," said Mayfest Coordinator Debby Raskin.

Raskin said the storms impacted everyone from bands, artists, food vendors and the festival's beverage sales.

Tracy said he's been running into this problem all year, costing him thousands of dollars.

"Went to Denver in January and we got in a blizzard up there. We got like one day out of three. Went to Albuquerque, same thing I got one day out of three," said Tracy.

Tracy said when the storms hit, he and other vendors did everything they could to save their artwork.

"My more expensive things I put in the trailer and the rest my tent is all waterproof, it zips up, its weighted down and it is all insured," said Tracy.

"We are very specific and don't allow the lightweight pop up style tents and have the artists make sure they have plenty of weights," said Raskin.