A nor’easter washed away a giant music festival. Ocean City tried to adapt.

The T-Shirt Factory stocked its shop with Oceans Calling shirts for this past weekend. They wound up printing “CANCELED” across the merchandise, selling what they could.

Ocean City businesses were forced to be inventive after a nor’easter swept across the East Coast, pummeling beaches and prompting the cancellation of Oceans Calling, a three-day rock music festival held annually at the town’s inlet.

It typically draws more than 50,000 people per day, providing an economic boost during an otherwise sleepy time for the vacation town. This year, Dave Matthews Band and Mumford & Sons were among the headliners.

Oceans Calling and Country Calling, another festival that happens a week later every year, stretch the town’s busy season. That might have been especially needed this year, following a slower-than-usual summer.

After an on-par June and July, Ocean City had fewer vacationers in August than it did a year ago. A sampling of hotels showed that they were 79% full that month, compared to 89% the year prior, according to Zartico, which provided tourism insights to Ocean City. That was partially because Labor Day weekend fell in August last year, and likely also because of an increase in rainfall and jellyfish.

After Oceans Calling was called off Friday, many would-be attendees scrapped plans to visit or cut trips short, fighting for lodging reimbursements. Others stuck the weekend out, though, and some bars and restaurants even saw a boost from thousands of music lovers who abruptly had no plans. “Suddenly free this weekend?” Seacrets, a popular nightlife spot, posted on social media.

People travel from all 50 states for the event, and superfans of Twenty One Pilots, another headliner, flew from Scotland. Outside of popular summer months, the festival is often the year’s most in-demand weekend. Hotel rooms cost roughly $400 a night.

But this year, wind gusts up to 52 mph battered the town and rising waters flooded streets, making it impossible to set up beachfront stages. It marked the second time in its five-year existence that weather caused the festival’s cancellation.

Thousands fewer people in Ocean City this past weekend surely kept millions of dollars out of the local economy, but some establishments fared better than they otherwise would have. Bars and restaurants are typically quiet for several hours each day as throngs stream into the festival; this year, though, many were jammed.

That included Buxy’s Salty Dog Saloon. The sports bar has hosted local musicians during Oceans Calling in the past but opted against it this year.

Instead, a musician came to them.

KT Tunstall, the Scottish singer with hits including “Suddenly I See,” was supposed to play the festival Friday. Shortly after its cancellation, she looked up nearby establishments and must have liked the look of Buxy’s. She called the bar and spoke with a waitress, who spoke to a manager, who spoke to owner Douglas Buxbaum.

By then, Tunstall was already on her way to the venue to scout it for a pop-up show that night. The bar promptly improvised a stage.

“That’s when you run to Home Depot, get some lumber, and put something together,” Buxbaum said.

Tunstall played two sets that night, and a line wrapped around the building. Many had to be turned away. Singing Tunstall’s praises, Buxbaum said that Friday was one of his favorite nights in 27 years of owning the bar.

“It was — I don’t want to say dumb luck, but it was Mother Nature that brought us together,” he said. “We just hit the jackpot.”

Music festivals are a fragile business, and although organizers typically have event insurance, a cancellation or two can be a death knell. In the case of Oceans Calling, though, it is put on by C3 Presents, a large promoter owned by music giant Live Nation. That means it likely has enough backing to endure a missed year, said Vito Valentinetti, who co-founded the Music Festival Wizard website in 2009.

He tracks festivals that annually sprout and fizzle, and Oceans Calling’s success — despite its bouts with bad weather — is promising.

“I know it’s a new festival, but it seems to have a solid lineup and seems to do well when the weather cooperates. I’d expect this one to be back,” he said.

In the meantime, the T-Shirt Factory has Country Calling merchandise in stock. That festival begins Friday — weather permitting.