French Quarter Fest organizers announced today that this year’s attendance numbers were roughly half of last year’s record breaking total.

Thanks in large part to thunderstorms that shut down some stages and relocated others, attendance for French Quarter Fest 2015 dropped 47 percent to 386,000 from a high of 733,000 last year.

Despite the drastic decrease in fans at each of the festival’s 23 stages, French Quarter Festivals, Inc. reported that hotel occupancy was at 98 percent during the four-day festival.

Over 60,000 people used the popular Festival App to navigate the sprawling festival, Rouses sold over 20,000 pounds of boiled crawfish, and Plum Street Snowballs went through 45,000 pounds of sugar to make the syrups used in their “spirited” and regular snowballs.

Over 450 guests attended the festival’s Opening Night Gala at Antoine’s on the first day of Festival. A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit the Roots of Music, a local non-profit that empowers the youth of New Orleans through music education, academic support, and mentorship.

Let’s all hope for better weather for French Quarter Fest 2016!