Arts, Beats & Eats festival delays Friday opening due to extreme weather

The annual Michigan Lottery Arts, Beats & Eats festival opens Friday and runs through Labor Day weekend.

The festival is now underway, but organizers say the intense weather impacted the start of the event.

"Has really been a start and stop," said Michigan Lottery Arts, Beats & Eats producer Jon Witz.

Witz says Mother Nature's wicked weather this week spurred some challenges.

"We've been hit with weather for three days in a row. Wednesday night, there was a severe windstorm. We lost tents. Mostly lost time in our ability to set things up. And then we got hit with weather again on Thursday and again this morning," Witz said. 

The extreme storms and powerful winds prompted organizers to delay Friday's festival opening by one hour to allow crews more time to prepare.

"It's just incredible that we put together 600 small businesses, restaurants, vendors, fine artists are in place, the stages are set, music is rolling, and we're off and running," said Witz.

The four-day festival features at least 200 bands across 11 stages, more than 50 restaurants and food trucks, 132 fine artists from across the United States and interactive family activities.

CBS News Detroit spoke to folks eager to stop by on opening day.

"I just love it. I'm here to see some music," said Brian Cahalan.

"We just came to check it out and get some tickets from Soaring Eagle," said Bonnie Parr.

"The rain stopped, and hopefully we'll just have a good time," said Barbara Blake.

Witz says nearly 300,000 people attend the festival each year. Although it was a wet start to the weekend, he's expecting a large turnout.

"We might have our biggest day in history tomorrow and throughout the weekend. We're expecting big crowds. We benchmark it on showing folks a good time, keeping it safe, providing great entertainment. It's not about did you hit a number. It's about did people have a great time?" said Witz.

Following Friday's adjusted opening, regular festival hours will continue as scheduled for the remainder of Labor Day weekend:

• Friday, Sept. 4: noon to 11 p.m.
• Saturday, Sept. 5: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Sunday, Sept. 6: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Monday, Sept. 7: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

For information, including ticket and parking prices, check out the Michigan Lottery Arts, Beats & Eats website, here.