They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, and you certainly couldn’t judge the 87th Mountain State Forest Festival by the weather of its opening weekend.

The small army of volunteers it took to bring us this year’s Forest Festival, under the supervision of Director General Lisa A. Shaffer, are to be commended for all the hard work they put in last week, especially in light of the rapidly changing weather conditions.

The 87th MSFF got off to a rainy start during the official opening ceremony at the Jennings Randolph Federal Center in Elkins on Saturday, Oct. 27.

A number of other events during the opening weekend were altered due to the weather.

Mountain State Forest Festival officials announced Oct. 27 that the Forest Festival Kickoff Party and Chili Cook-Off Festival Feud had been moved indoors due to inclement weather.

The events were moved to the Phil Gainer Community Center in Elkins and took place indoors that evening.

Rainy weather also forced the MSFF Cornhole Tournament indoors, to American Legion Post 29 that afternoon.

The MSFF Poker Run, which was set to begin the morning of Oct. 27, was canceled due to the weather.

The MSFF Bass Fishing Classic tournament, meanwhile, was canceled due to extreme drought conditions. The tournament had been scheduled to begin that same morning.

Things looked dire for the festival, but then something wonderful happened: the sun came out. Warm weather began on Monday and continued throughout the rest of Festival Week, offering sunny skies and unseasonably high temperatures approaching 80 degrees.

Talk about a turnaround!

Queen Silvia LXXXVII Sterling Anne Kump was crowned under beautiful blue skies during a well-attended and much-cheered coronation ceremony Friday afternoon on the campus of Davis & Elkins College.

Thousands turned out to enjoy the Mountain State Forest Festival Grand Feature Parade on Saturday afternoon, cheering as bands, floats and dignitaries traveled through downtown Elkins in the gorgeous weather.

And Shaffer and Kump placed a commemorative stone at the Jennings Randolph Federal Building Plaza during the MSFF closing ceremony under sunny skies Sunday afternoon.

Anyone who was feeling pessimistic after the opening weekend was happy to be proven wrong by the good vibes and great fun of the Festival’s closing weekend.

Here’s hoping we can get some more great weather for next year’s festival. We understand we can’t have an “80 and sunny” forecast every October, but it certainly cheered a lot of local residents up to have one this year.