Street Talk
Got Turkey Legs? Main Street Needs Your Help
By Mickey Howley
The Main Street Market Festival is just under a month away. The final planning is going on now but there is still space for art booths and crafters. The quilt lottery is just about full. The music line-up is getting locked in. As the weather warms, festival fever is heating up in Mississippi. Here at Main Street we are praying for good weather this May 9th. We were very lucky last April 19th for Founders Day, the weather was just gorgeous.
We have still a few places for food vendors. If your group is interested in a food booth, contact the Main Street office at 473-3796 or 473-6767. Julie Tyler is in charge of the food end of the Fest and she already has a pretty good line-up. This town is lucky to have such a diverse and talented group of volunteers working on this festival. They have been putting forth some real effort for the last month. It takes plenty of phone time and leg work to get everything together, but when a street fest really clicks, if you are there at the right time and right place, it can be memorable.
I had one of those right place, right time moments years ago in Bay St. Louis. It was a street fest; the weather was warm, the gulf breeze salty, the music funky and the crowd very relaxed. Somebody was smoking turkey legs, and I could not pass them up. I don’t know if it was the turkey leg itself, the cool band, or the sunburn on my scalp, but I just remember it as one of the best festivals I’d been to. Julie tells me so far no one is cooking turkey legs. So if you can cook turkey legs, please call us. We are going to have crawfish. I have been pleasantly amazed at how the little feisty crustaceans have been spreading in popularity in the past few years. They have left the bayous and are now nationwide. Even Ripley had a downtown crawfish boil last weekend.
Before the festival, there will be something way more important in Water Valley. Our city election is May 5. There will be 14 candidates on the ballot for six positions. I have seen some of their ads and they all seem like nice people in print. And while I know now what church they attend and who their family members are, I have not seen much about what they intend to do or where they stand on local issues and why they should be elected or re-elected.
I would suggest strongly that not only should you vote, but should ask each candidate where they stand on local issues. What do they think about where we have been and where we are going, and what is their plan for our future? Ask them those type of direct questions, I’m pretty sure most won’t bite you. Here at Main Street, we are into saving the past, but we think all our effort is for the future. The Herald this week and next has some candidate responses, please give them a critical reading.
Our website favorite festival foods poll from last week had summer classics like hot dogs, hamburgers and lemonade coming clearly in first and strangely no one wanted cotton candy. Visit www.watervalleymainstreet.com for this week’s poll on local politics.
