BANGOR – Afternoon showers on Friday turned the opening day of the Bangor State Fair into a puddle-filled water park, and the early humidity probably kept people away from the opening day of the annual fair, officials said.

Although exact attendance numbers will not be known until later, the fair director did not have a positive outlook.

“My take is it’s not as strong as last year,” Mike Dyer said Monday afternoon in his office.

Roughly 80 people showed up for the noon ribbon-cutting ceremony with Gov. John Baldacci and Bangor City Councilor Richard Greene in the overcast, humid weather.

“It wasn’t terribly pleasant weather, even during the cutting,” Dyer said.

Many took cover underneath the mist tents, people chugged water, and even a couple of diving pigs went for a swim at the 1 p.m. Racing Pigs show.

Pounding thunderstorms drenched the fairgrounds for 15 minutes around 2 p.m., forcing some to flee to the air-conditioned Bangor Civic Center and underneath the grandstand of the racetrack. People who did not to make it to one of those havens found shelter underneath tents in the children’s rides area.

“The civic center and grandstand were crowded. But I think the OTB [Off Track Betting] was the place of choice for adults,” Dyer joked.

The constant downpour and wind almost blew some tents off the ground, and whipping rain prompted parents to cover their children. The wind sent signs to the ground as Fiesta Shows workers labored to deflate floats and shut down rides.

With thunder cracking and bolts of lightning overhead, one McAllen, Texas, family ran for a tent.

With his daughter in his arms, Tom Fortin, who is visiting family in Old Town, teased that the “hot, humid weather” from earlier in the day was like the wintertime back home. He said he didn’t want the rain to disrupt his vacation and his only chance to attend the fair this year.

“We’ll see if we can get the kids on a couple of rides,” he said with his family by his side. “I saw it getting dark and said we better use the tickets up.”

Once the rain let up, the Fortins took off for the merry-go-round as if the weather had never changed.

While many were ducking for cover and trying to avoid getting wet, one man dared to dive into a tank of water.

Performer Colby Cheney threw on a wetsuit and took a swim – with sharks.

The former Marine eagerly jumped into the tank with more than 100 soaked people looking on soon after the rain stopped. The show, Live Shark Encounter, is an educational and entertainment show put on all over the country. Cheney travels six months a year putting on shows from Maine to Texas.

Courageously, the performer danced with a nurse shark, grabbed onto the back of the dangerous lemon shark, and even used one shark as his personal banjo.

Dyer said later that he was satisfied with how the opening day progressed, despite the rain.

“As far as opening days go, today went well,” Dyer said. “We were in a rush this morning to get everything in place. Today allows us to tweak things a little bit.”