In spite of Thursday afternoon’s rain, shoppers checked out local businesses and pop-up vendors at the Moonlight Madness event in downtown Marshall. Erin Jensen and Wendy Towne looked at the customized travel cups at Trina Hiepler’s pop-up booth inside the Graceful Marilyn Quilt Shoppe.

MARSHALL — Afternoon shopping at Marshall’s Moonlight Madness event got off to a slower start this year, local business owners said. A downpour and thunderstorm on Thursday might have delayed shoppers, but some groups of people were starting to venture downtown as the rain began to stop.

“We haven’t been downtown too much yet,” Nicole DeBoer said, as she checked out one of the Moonlight Madness pop-up vendors. However, she said she had stopped by Fuzzy’s to sample an exclusive drink created for the event. “It was delicious.”

Moonlight Madness, a fundraiser for the Marshall Downtown Business Association, encourages visitors to shop and dine at local businesses. In addition to coupons and samples from downtown businesses, this year’s event also featured pop-up vendors, beer tastings by Brau Brothers and Talking Waters Brewing Co., and signature drinks at downtown bars and restaurants.

Dawn Kopperud said people would stop at the Bursch Travel office on Main Street throughout the day, to pick up their Moonlight Madness tickets. “A few people come right away in the morning,” and use their coupons for coffee, she said. Other shoppers wait for more downtown businesses to open. Some of the special events at this year’s event started up at 4 p.m. “Unfortunately, the rain hit right at that time,” Kopperud said.

“It’s been a little on the slower side,” Kenzie Goodmund said, as the rain came down Thursday afternoon. Goodmund was on Third Street with a pop-up event for Mid-West Boutique. Goodmund said the boutique is frequently holds pop-ups.

“We are typically at a pop-up somewhere every weekend,” she said. Besides offering a chance to connect with customers, the events helped encourage online sales for her business.

Over at the Graceful Marilyn Quilt Shoppe, shoppers were checking out some of the customized cups Trina Hiepler was selling at her pop-up booth. Hiepler said she had gotten set up as a vendor at the Quilt Shoppe, and then was asked about being part of Moonlight Madness. “I thought it would be fun,” she said.

Although they couldn’t really plan for an unexpected thunderstorm, both shoppers and businesspeople said Moonlight Madness was positive for downtown.

“We loved the pop-up vendors,” said Wendy Towne and Erin Jensen.

The event brings groups of friends together, and gets people thinking about early holiday shopping, Kopperud said.

“It gets people downtown a lot,” she said.