PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Strong winds caused some serious damage at the Three Rivers Arts Festival.

It was so bad that officials had to stop the festival for part of the afternoon and some vendors’ art work was destroyed.

KDKA’S John Shumway said according to folks who’ve been around the festival for many, many years, the storm was the worst yet.

For the most part, the festival is back up and operating. Some artists, though, chose to pack up and go home a bit early.

While some held on as best they could to tents, others scrambled to save their craft.

One artist said he’s been part of the festival for 15 years, and this was the second tent he lost because of a storm at the show.

For some, there was no art left to put in a safe place. Some booths were simply blown over, including Mary Hamilton’s.

“This is the worst ever,” she said. “I have done this show since 1972 and this is the worst.”

Other booths were destroyed. In fact, you couldn’t even tell they were once artisans’ booths at all.

For two hours, the art’s festival booths were shut down for cleanup.

Some of the artists that left after the mid-day storm. They were scheduled to leave tonight anyway, and a new group of artists are scheduled to move in tonight for the rest of the festival.

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