For any festival, block party or similar event, success is determined by good attendance, happy faces and monetary patronage.

All three components were obvious during the 11th annual Hootenanny Music Festival held Sunday in Summit Hill.

At one point during the one-day event, a drenching, early afternoon, rainstorm arrived and remained incessant for about a half-hour. It even contained a rumble of thunder and a few flashes of lightning.

That rain event did nothing to hinder the zest of the festival. Most people present when the rains came either sought refuge in tents and canopies, came prepared with umbrellas or merely ran for momentary respite to their vehicles.

Some people ignored the rain completely and walked around as if to say, “we’ll dry off quickly.”

When the rain ended, the sun brought warmth to the day even though the festival was held in Ludlow Park amid a canopy of trees.

Festival organizers said the attendance this year was among the largest ever.

Of course, the main event was the free music. The Pennsylvania Villagers, a Carbon County-based band specializing in polka music, opened the festival playing such favorites as “The Pennsylvania Polka” and “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie.”

Other bands throughout the day were Free Range Folk, which features former Hootenanny chairwoman Sara Ruch; Cross-Tie Walker, Shellshocked Churchills, Big Valley Bluegrass and Justin Skylar Band.

Hootenanny chairwoman Terri Kane, was happy with the turnout and virtually all else involving this year’s event.

“Things are going really, really well,” she said. “The vendors are happy. The trees are providing a lot of shade. We have some new vendors this year and already they’re asking to come back next year.”

Kane said there were about 130 items donated for the Hootenanny raffle.

Regarding the rain, she said, “People stood under the tents and after the rain, they all came back out. It was so nice to see.”

Kane and Ruch worked together along with other committee members selling souvenir T-shirts.

Ruch said she is impressed with the work of Kane and her committee and pleased with the way the festival has grown.

She said this year’s Hootenanny focused a lot on children. There was a special kids’ raffle, a children’s coloring contest and a lot of make it-and-take it crafts.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Ruch said of the Hootenanny. “I’m so happy with how it has evolved.”

Many local groups utilized the festival to raise funds.

Three organizations with ties to the municipality were among. One was a committee raising money to buy new Christmas lights for the borough, selling walking tacos.

The Summit Hill Recreation Commission had a raffle of camping equipment.

A stand was manned by the Panther Valley Blueprint Society.

One of the fun groups was the Sword Tag Society, which not only had swords on display but had a safe set of weaponry which let younger people engage in fencing.

To appease baseball fans who insisted on watching the afternoon game of the Philadelphia Phillies (which the Phillies won), a big-screen TV played the game in the Ludlow Park gazebo.

Individuals seemed very pleased with this year’s Hootenanny.

“I had a lot to eat and the food was great here,” said Tomm Sebastian of Franklin Township. “I enjoyed myself today. The music was excellent. I’ll be back next year.”