Preparations for Gagetown, New Brunswick’s second High and Dry Festival were underway on Friday. Despite setbacks caused by flooding, the community and its businesses are hoping for healthy earnings during the height of tourism season.

With the event tagline, ‘No one expected it to happen again, but it did,’ the sophomore edition of the festival, organized by the Village of Gagetown and Area Chamber of Commerce, is touted as a party to help businesses affected by flooding in the area.

“We thought ‘What could we do to bring a bunch of people into the village after we've cleaned up the mess to spend their money in our shops and restaurants?’” says Village of Gagetown and Area Chamber of Commerce president, Paul Mennier. “So we thought, 'we'll put on a free concert, free fireworks.'”

The event, which takes place on Saturday and Sunday, is being funded by corporate partners in and outside of the village.

“We thought, 'who can we reach out to that, you don't want to say benefitted from the flood, but did good business because of the flood?'” says Mennier. “So, companies that are in disaster restoration.”

Some of those companies are taking part in a flood expo taking place at the same time as the festival. Organizers say they’re holding the event to help the community understand and adapt to the realities of climate change – and potential future floods.

“This change is real,” says flood expo organizer, Bruce Langhus. “It's real for Gagetown – it's real for western New Brunswick.”

After a slow start to this year’s tourism season, business owners are saying they are still feeling the effects of the area’s most recent flood.

“It was slow – it has picked up some,” says business owner, Marian Langhus. “We hope to pick up more into September.”

Meanwhile, restaurant owner, Thane Mallory, says his establishment was closed for weeks in the spring due to flooding – resulting in $20,000 in losses and expenses,

“We probably didn't get back to normal until the end of the first week of July,” says Mallory.

Fortunately for residents and businesses, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited New Brunswick on Thursday to announce future flood protection.

In the meantime, organizers continue to prepare for the upcoming High and Dry Festival.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jessica Ng