Top of the Park fans enjoy some music on Sunday.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Ann Arbor Summer Festival executive director Robb Woulfe, before reflecting on how this year’s three-week, indoor and outdoor entertainment program is going, suggested the following headline: “Woulfe still standing, barely.”

“It is (crazy right now), but I always get my second wind going into the last weekend,” Woulfe said. “I usually hit a wall at the end of the second week. It’s been a good run, but it’s always nice to see the end on the horizon.”

Even as Woulfe says this, though, he admits to staring out his window and worrying about that night’s weather, since AASF”s Top of the Park free live music performances and movie screenings happen outdoors.

“Week one was a bit shaky,” said Woulfe. “We lost a good portion of opening night (Friday, June 18) and Wednesday to severe weather. But things stabilized in week two, and we made up some lost revenue." (As of this morning, voluntary ToP donations are running behind the festival's goals.)

"We certainly prefer heat to rain, but the severe heat is keeping some people away, too. I hope it breaks. But in general we’ve seen great crowds up there.”

Woulfe is cautious about making early projections for this year’s fest, especially because, for the first time, a marquee, add-on concert — Chris Isaak on July 30 at Hill Auditorium — is scheduled weeks after Top of the Park concludes. Woulfe is counting on that show selling well, and stated that this year’s AASF shows have generally matched organizers’ projections.

“Some of the shows this season performed better than expected, some a bit less, but in the end it should all balance out,” Woulfe said. “We’ve also seen quite a bit of last minute ticket buying on shows, which has left me with some well-bitten nails.”

Woulfe counts Caravan Palace among his personal highlights for this year’s Fest (“Audience members young and old were out of their seats, dancing”), and called Devo’s show “fantastic.”

“Cinematic Titanic,” meanwhile, this year’s biggest ticket-seller for the Fest so far, played to two nearly-full houses at the Michigan Theater, while Woulfe also noted that smaller programs, like the local-teen-showcase Grassrootz Stage and mind/body sessions called Retreats, have grown in popularity.

“People are finding out what it is about the festival that they like,” said Woulfe. “It’s been fun seeing new programs get a new audience.”

Yet one of Woulfe’s disappointments about AASF 2010 concerned ticket sales for Company T.P.O.’s family-friendly show, "Butterfly Garden."

“People kept telling me, ‘We heard that was so good. I wish we’d seen that,’ and I’d say, “Yeah, me too,’” Woulfe said. “It’s always interesting to see what people respond to and what they don’t respond to.”

There have been no sell-outs for AASF so far; but several live music acts at Top of the Park have brought their own large fan bases out, which has led to several good turnouts — weather permitting.

“I’m trying not to get bogged down about the weather, but it’s such a critical piece to what we do,” said Woulfe. “On opening night, it was so hard for me to close it down. To watch 2,500 to 3,000 people walk out of your event with three hours to go — it was painful. So we’re counting on this weekend for a great closing.”

Last year, the money-strapped AASF sounded the call for on-site donations at Top of the Park events ($3 per person, $5 per family) and consequently received more than $40,000 in additional funding. This year, the donation boxes are still around, but they’re emptier.

“Last year, because it was our first year going out there with it, we were messaging it louder,” Woulfe said. “We never want to get to the point where we have people standing at the gates, hitting people over head with it.”

But after a final week filled with sweltering heat and another rain-out on Thursday evening, AASF is now $15,000 behind on their on-site donation goals.

“Traditionally, our closing weekend is strong regarding beverage sales and donations, so we’re hoping to make up some lost ground,” said Woulfe. “We also get a fair number of donations post-season. People sometimes wait to get through the season, and then they think about how often they were out there, enjoying the bands and the films. That’s revenue that we count on.”

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.