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Prayers for rain answered just in time for Saturday night events After all of Wilkes County had been praying for rain for weeks with barely a drop, the answer to prayer finally came in a thunder-booming deluge Saturday about suppertime. As much as the rain was needed, though, the timing was lousy. Thousands of folks had gathered around at three big events in Wilkes County: along Washington's Whitehall Street for Mayfest, on The Square for the Memory Lane Cruisers' Spring Cruise-In, and in Aonia, for the Young Farmers Tractor Pull. Crowds at each event scattered as the threat of rain turned into the first violent thunderstorm of the season, and rain poured down in a way that caught a lot of folks used to the drought by surprise. A Mayfest crowd estimated by organizer Sheila Hill at 2,500 scattered when the storm hit. Many of the custom cars and hot rods on The Square buttoned up and left, but many car owners hunkered down in the Chamber of Commerce and waited the storm out. As the rain eased, though, impromptu parties sprang up everywhere, as groups gathered in parking lots and fast-food restaurants. Washington Police worked to keep crowds flowing and orderly, and had only one incident. The storm dumped a little over an inch in town, Norris Ware reported. With Wilkes County and all of Georgia deep in a drought, however, the inch of rain was only the proverbial drop in the bucket. The wildfire danger is still high, Chief Alan Poss said, and outdoor burning bans are still in place.
"This little dab of rain didn't do that much," he said. "It's still dry out there, and we're still just one spark away, one cigarette away, from having a fire like the ones down in south Georgia and Florida."
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