The organizers of the annual Brownstown/Ewing Main Street Artsfest had to overcome a lot to get this year’s event — conducted Saturday — off the ground.

The first was the death of Wilma Wessel, one of the driving forces behind the local Main Street organization and Artsfest when it was first put together back in 2013, and the second was a dreary Saturday with unceasing rain.

They still, however, managed to pull it off with some major adjustments, including fitting all of the booths into three attached buildings and an adjacent courtyard in Ewing. The event had originally been planned for various locations in Brownstown, including the courthouse, the nearby Jackson County History Center, the courthouse square and along Main Street and a couple of locations in Ewing.

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The most important thing is that event went off as planned, organizer Leigh Anne Wessel said.

“Thanks to Darlene and Brian McIntosh, they made room for everyone,” she said.

Wessel said Wilma had asked her to be the co-chairwoman of this year’s Artsfest, and that’s why it became important to her when Wilma died Jan. 7.

“So we threw it together literally in two to three months,” Wessel said. “It’s important to me because I want people to come to Brownstown. We’re starting to get more stores downtown. I want to see Brownstown grow.”

Steven Wallen Mcelhiney of Ewing said he decided to bring his two daughters, Savannah Jade, 2, and Tempest Callista, 4, because it looked like something they might like to do.

“I saw the banner, and we just decided to come down,” he said. “I thought it would be a good thing to do with my kids.”

He said Tempest had tried painting when she was a little younger, but it didn’t work out.

Tempest, however, said she was having fun Saturday morning while painting with watercolors at a booth organized by the youth of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Brownstown.

James “Chainsaw” Johnson of North Vernon, who has been practicing the art of chainsaw carving since 1984, was one of the many craftsmen to set up shop at the event.

“Chainsawing is getting to be a big thing these days,” he said. “I went over to Ridgeway, Pennsylvania. It’s the biggest carving show of the year. There were 247 of us over there. “

Johnson was able to give a demonstration beneath a tent outside, so the rain didn’t bother him too much.

“I wasn’t doing nothing much of anything anyway,” Johnson said.

Joe Reynolds was displaying some of his art Saturday. He was born and raised in Brownstown but taught art for most of his life in Indianapolis. He returned home after retiring.

“I learned the craft of silversmithing while I was in college, and since I retired, this is one of the things I do,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds also is a member of Main Street’s arts council.

“We are kind of fortunate to have people who can help us by opening their doors to large events such as Artsfest,” Reynolds said.

James Harris, a tattoo artist with Popsey’s Electric Tattooing Co. in Seymour, said he recently started setting up shop at local festivals and events to show people that tattooing is just another art form.

“We do a lot of folk art, low brow stuff,” he said while doing a charcoal drawing of a rhinoceros. “I haven’t done charcoal in a really long time and just started doing it. I really, really enjoy it.”