The rain stayed away, the people came in droves, and the organizers of the second annual South Coast Harvest Fair walked away from the Westport Fairgrounds Sunday evening overwhelmed at the success of their sophomore effort.

“Epic,” organizer Michelle Sousa Peay, who runs the fest with husband Brian, said. “The atmosphere was electric. Thousands of people poured in — it was amazing.”

Rain was pretty much the only thing that poured in last year, when the couple launched the event at the fairgrounds on Pine Hill Road. Weather two out of the three days kept a lot of people away, dealing a financial blow to the festival and leading to lots of finger-crossing, and weather-report watching, in the days leading up to the event.

"We were so happy to have clear skies this year," Sousa Peay said.

The festival is a labor of love for the couple, who have been professional garden designers for years and decided to use their contacts to replace a similar fall fest that had run in Westport years ago, but had been absent for 20 years or more.

Sousa Peay participated in the Rhode Island Flower Show for 25 years, and over that time "we developed a nice family of gardeners." But when the flower show closed, it left a hole.

"When the show ended I didn't want to end those connections — it was one of the best things to happen in my career."
So she and her husband, who have both volunteered at the fairgrounds' gardens for years, decided the fairgrounds would be a great place for a new harvest festival.

They had plenty of help — floral designers, artists, animals and games and music for the kids, lots of food and more. Students from Bristol Aggie helped out, as did many other volunteers.

Next year, Sousa Peas said, the festival may run two consecutive weekends, giving more folks a chance to see it while creating a built-in rain date so the weather-related problems that plagued it the first year wouldn't be repeated.

"We can't wait to build on what we had this year," she said.

The festival also turned into a fund-raiser for a 15-year-old New Bedford girl, who lost her mother and brother in a rollover crash on Route 195 in early September.

The organizers publicized the fund-raiser on their website and solicited donations to help the girl, the daughter of the late Gladys Ivelisse Colon Kuilan, 35, and sister of the late Willniel Osorio-Colon, 13. In the end, Sousa said, attendees donated more than $6,000 to help — many of the donations came via a collection box left at the entrance.

"We wanted to do what we could to help," Sousa Peay said. "Such a tragedy (but) people really helped."