CANFIELD — Soggy fairgoers waited out massive storms that delayed the country music concert at the Canfield Fair on Sunday but ultimately filled the grandstand for the show that promoters, stage crews and fair workers somehow managed to pull off, despite downpours that dumped nearly 4 inches of rain in the hours leading up to the show.

Lines of fans, many adorned in ponchos and huddled under umbrellas, remained wrapped around the grandstand entrances hours after the gates had been scheduled to open for the concert headlined by four-time Grammy-nominated country music performer Sam Hunt.

The downpours began shortly after 5 p.m., leaving water pooling all over the fairgrounds, including on the grandstand track that had been converted to floor seating for the show. Next, came tornado and flash-flood warnings for the area.

Still, the show went on — albeit late and abbreviated.

Scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. with two opening acts, Lily Rose and Ryan Hurd, the show didn’t get started until around 8:30 p.m. Rose and Hurd played abbreviated sets of about only 20 minutes each, in an effort to move the concert along and give fans the best opportunity to see Hunt’s full set.

Hunt finally took the stage at 10:05 p.m. to thunderous applause. The stands and floor seats were packed with enthusiastic fans who managed to shrug off the evening’s weather that, for a spell, had left many wondering if it would go on at all.

After opening with “Leave the Night On,” Hunt’s first single off his 2014 debut album, “Montevallo,” the singer pushed through another seven hits with barely a word or pause in between, a clear attempt to give his fans what they came to hear, despite the late start.

With high energy, Hunt rolled through “Hard to Forget,” “Kinfolks,” “23,” “Breaking Up Was Easy in the 90s,” “Take Your Time,” and “Raised on it.”

During the up-tempo “House Party,” the performer’s third No. 1 country hit, Hunt climbed down from the stage, landing with a splash on the wet turf, to the delight of fans with whom he shared high-fives, before scaling back up the side of the stage to finish the song.

When he finally spoke to fans from the stage, Hunt acknowledged he was rolling through the songs for the sake of time.

“I was going to push through and not talk too much so I can play more music for you,” Hunt said. However, he did take a few minutes to share some of his life story about growing up in the rural South and pointing out that after making it big in country music, a person can become “disconnected.”

“You look around one day, and down is up and up is down, and you have to say, ‘Man I’ve got to get back to where I am from,'” Hunt said.

It was reported widely earlier this year that Hunt’s pregnant wife had filed for divorce alleging “inappropriate marital conduct” and adultery. His wife later withdrew the filing. Hunt wore his wedding ring during Sunday’s performance, and he did not mention his wife, his new baby nor his marriage.

Hunt went on to perform a new, unreleased ballad, “Sometimes You Gotta Start No Where,” before rolling into a cover of John Denver’s “Country Roads, Take Me Home.”

He wrapped up his show by 11:15 p.m. without a traditional encore — another apparent casualty of the weather-related delayed start.

Still, few in the crowd appeared to be disappointed, especially when Hunt closed with a strong performance of fan-favorite, “Body Like a Back Road,” undoubtedly the song he would have sang had he done an encore performance.

blinert@tribtoday.com