FOXBORO - Heavy rain sharply cut into a local hairdresser's cancer fundraiser on Saturday.

Still, the crowd of roughly 150 didn't want to leave the festival carnival and concert in the Foxfield Plaza parking lot off Route 140.

Organizers put out chairs under a tent when the downpours began, organizer Christina Elfar said Sunday.

"We could've ended the event. It was just unbelievable how everybody wanted it to go on," she said.

What Elfar, a make-up artist, hairdresser and aspiring model, initially envisioned as a small "Cuts for a Cure" haircut fundraiser for the American Cancer Society grew into a nine-hour event featuring eight hours of music, as well as face painting, a silent auction and other activities. A philanthropist who wishes to remain anonymous has agreed to match the proceeds up to $25,000. Elfar said she hopes to know the fundraising total soon.

A 2002 graduate of King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Elfar said her uncle, who is in remission, inspired her.

"I wanted to do everything I could do, just to see if I could help," said Elfar, who grew up in Wrentham and now lives in Pawtucket.

Elfar said the event couldn't have happened without her colleagues at her salon: Vannessa Buckman, Corina Magno, Sade Chalhoub and Jason Oliveira.

"I couldn't have done it by myself," Elfar said. "We had a lot more people who didn't believe, as opposed to people who did believe. It just made us push that much harder."

Former New England Patriots Christian Fauria and Joe Andruzzi stopped by with their families.

"They got their faces painted. They rode some ponies," said Elfar, adding that she knows Fauria through her job.

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0439 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.