The 46th Annual Cedar Valley Arts Festival in Cedartown was forced to close early Saturday due to a violent thunderstorm.

Vendors began breaking down their booths and displays shortly before 11 a.m. as guests began streaming out of Peek Park to return to their vehicles.

LeAnne Shelton, festival chairperson, said the festival will resume at noon Sunday, on what weather reports predicted would be a sunnier day.

The award program for chidren's art, originally planned for 1:20 p.m. Saturday, has been rescheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.

The dog show, which was to be held 4:30 p.m. Saturday, will instead be held at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Ronda Friend, an author of children's books, confirmed that she will also return and be at the festival through the day Sunday.

A number of planned performances will not be held, while some go on Sunday as schedules allow.

The decision to close the festival was made as the weather continued to worsen Saturday morning. By 10:30 p.m. the skies were overcast and it looked more like dusk than early morning.

By 11:45 Cedartown was being saturated by heavy rainful, powerful gusts of wind, and rocked by thunder and lightning.