Not even gray and rainy skies could damper the closing of the 23rd Annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts yesterday, as artists and festival-goers alike wrapped up a week of art, music and fun.

About 220,000 people enjoyed the festival's activities, said David Hatfield, managing director of the festival.

Happy Valley's often temperamental weather graced the event with sun until yesterday - but some people still braved morning rains for a last tour of the festival. Artists disagreed on the rain's effects on sales.

"Weather helped sales, except for today," said Margaret Lutzke, a weaver from Waynesboro. "If the weather is hot it's not conducive to browsing."

Ann Vandervelde, a painter from State College, said she expected the three days of good weather to make up for any potential customers who decided not to venture into yesterday's bad weather.

But Diane Gradus of New York City, who is helping sell her husband's paintings, said the rain may not have hurt their sales.

"I'm selling. Yesterday, it was so busy it may have hurt sales . . . maybe more serious buyers are out today," Gradus said.

Some tourists, like Debbie Terterchanik and Gina Harrington of Cresson, said the rain did not matter.

"Even though it was raining we still wanted to come," said Terterchanik, who was also here Friday.

Nina Arnold, a hand-woven tapestry and wall-hanging artist from Kewanee, Ill., said sales were up this year.

"Business is going very well. Right after this I am going to the Ann Arbor show and my inventory is going to be low thanks to the wonderful Pennsylvania people," she said.

While the weather was beyond their control, organizers and artists generally agreed the festival was a well-organized success.

Ken Foster, secretary of the festival's board of directors, said he was pleased with the outcome of the festival. Over 2,000 volunteers - including a 12 member board of directors - organized the festival, Foster said.

The sidewalk sales and performing arts were particularly successful this year, Foster said, adding that there was a record crowd Saturday.

"For a festival of this size, I think it's running pretty smoothly," said Russell DeGaeto, a photographer from New York.

Gradus said the liaison between artists and organizers was particularly well thought out.

"There are booth sitters - other shows don't have that," she said, explaining that festival workers checked frequently to make sure artists were not having any problems.

Visitors seemed to agree the festival was a lot of fun.

The festival was crowded but worth the trip, said Pittsburgh resident Nichole Sweeney.

"I liked this festival better than Three Rivers Art Festival in Pittsburgh," Sweeney said.

"The festival is a marvelous social event, and it's the best thing that happens up here," said Evert Wright (senior-real estate).

A first-time visitor to the festival, Mary Carlson of DuBois, said she heard about the festival on the news and wanted to see what the fuss was all about.

"It was really worth the drive over. It's very interesting and there is a variety of artists," Carlson said.

Mary Ann Richards of Clearfield, visiting the festival for the fifteenth time, said the festival was better this year than in previous years because of the bright colors used by the artists. Richards also commented on the cleanliness of the streets.

"I wonder how they keep it clean, but then again Penn State always does things in style," Richards said.