NEW ORLEANS — A day after thunderstorms forced the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to close early, thousands of umbrellas bobbed as their owners listened or danced in puddles to a 70-minute tribute to the late Allen Toussaint.

Leslie Goldberg, a Chicagoan living in New Orleans, swayed to strains played by Dr. John as a light rain fell on the last day of the seven-day celebration of food, art, crafts and, of course, music.

“He was a legend,” she said. “I like to see how all the musicians who came to Jazz Fest interpret his music.”

An earlier downpour turned parts of the Fair Grounds Race Course into swimming pools for geese and forced several of the last day’s acts to end their sets early.

Other performances in big tents were not affected, festival spokesman Matthew Goldman said.

Ketha Page waded across calf-high water to help her husband pack up their folding chairs and get under the Blues Tent.

“Yesterday, it was up to my knees,” she said. “But when we got here this morning, it was dry.”

Page said she stayed Saturday until 4:45 p.m. in hopes of hearing Stevie Wonder, who was supposed to close out one of the main stages. Instead, Wonder gave an impromptu performance hours later at a nightclub. On Sunday, Page hoped to hear Bonnie Raitt and Neil Young.

Organizers let people who came Saturday use that same ticket Sunday rather than paying $75 at the gate.

At the General Store, owner Debby Shapiro said she couldn’t remember how many umbrellas they had sold. By Sunday afternoon, none were left.

Rain ponchos were common. One girl and her mother wore matching red rain slickers, the woman’s down to her thighs, the girl’s just a few inches above the ground.

Joe Thompson and fellow scuba diver Sebastian Boegershausen came dressed in wetsuits and rubber boots. Thompson also wore a red plastic sou’wester, its long rear brim sheltering his neck from the rain.

He said he hadn’t planned to go, what with the weather and all. “My friend said, ‘I’m going anyway, and I’m wearing a wetsuit.’ And I realized my ticket from yesterday would get me in,” Thompson said.

As lightning flashed, Boergershausen noted, “We’re really well insulated – we’re surrounded by rubber. We’re not going to get electrocuted.”