The weekend's rainy weather cast a shadow over the annual Bite of Seattle festival at Seattle Center.

Though there were more restaurants and vendors than previous years, attendance was the lowest it has been in the past five years. Friday night, usually one of the busiest, was almost deserted, and the crowd did not grow much Saturday.

"As of now we don't know if we will break even or not this year," said Roshita Shrestha, the owner of Capitol Hill's Annapurna Café, said.

She remained optimistic, adding, "Even if we don't do well here, business usually picks up at the restaurant for a few weeks following the festival."

Shrestha, like all the other restaurant owners in attendance, incurs the cost of setting up and operating her booth. The restauranteurs must apply to the festival in order to attend, and if they are invited they pay a fee in addition to all other associated costs. Consequently, vendors depend on a good-sized crowd to cover their costs.

"We are more interested with making connections in the community this weekend than we are with making money, but it is always nice if we don't end up losing any," Shrestha said. The rain did not keep everyone away, however. Mandi Temple, a Boeing employee, stuffed herself full Saturday afternoon.

"I haven't eaten this much good food since Christmas," Temple joked. "The chocolate-covered strawberries were the best, but I was also surprised at how good alligator tastes."

Jeremy Bond, a software writer from Yakima, made the trip over the mountains specifically for the event.

"I love good food, and if there is this much of it in one place how could I stay away?" he quipped. For Bond, the weather did not dampen his day.

"I always expect rain when I come to Seattle, so I packed for it," he said.

Bond was pleasantly surprised at how much he enjoyed the alligator skewers from Casper's Everglades Supper House, but his favorite dish of the weekend was the ribs at Rhodies Smokin BBQ, which was located next to the Bite Blues Roadhouse stage.

Six stages featured non-stop music playing genres as diverse as the food, and the Bacardi Comedy Club kept those over 21 entertained from the afternoon until early evening.

More than 10 wineries also attended the festival to give tasters a chance to sample locally made wines.

Fans of spicy food indulged their taste buds at Eloi Taste the Caribbean's booth. The spicy jerk chicken and curry goat were hot enough to send many samplers straight to the beer gardens attempting to put out the flames.

Although the smaller crowd had a negative effect on vendors' incomes, Seattle police officers did not necessarily find the lack of turnout to be a bad thing.

Officers joked that they were not even needed this weekend because the smaller crowd behaved better than usual.

Despite inclement weather, festival-goers still enjoyed themselves. The hardened Seattleites who ignored the rain and came out to enjoy their weekend seemed to be doing just that.