Street Talk
Market Festival Offers Full Day Of Music And Fun
By Mickey Howley
Last weekend James Bond was washed out. But don’t count Bond out; he will be back soon one dry weekend night.
Monday I was on the set of the noon news show with Anna Freeman and John Dolusic at WTVA. We had a couple of minutes of airtime to promote this Saturday’s Main Street Market Festival. I was watching John in front of the green screen do his weather report and, well, it is just difficult to forecast weather this time of year.
So with the weather we are planning and praying for the best. Kicking off the events this Saturday will be the Farmers Market from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
There are farmers lined up with fresh produce, eggs, breads, and local honey. I’m really looking forward to making a fresh salad; food just tastes better when it is directly from the field.
Our friends from Fiddlin’ Rooster will have their mini-train out on Main Street giving kids rides. There will a kid music stage as well with two acts lined up to play.
Later on in the day there is even more stuff for kids. In the early afternoon at the lot on the corner of Panola and Main there will be a baby crawl, sack hop, three legged races and egg and spoon races. We’ll have horseshoes for the older set. Right by all this action we’ll have festival T-shirts for sale at the Main street office; kid sizes this year up to 3XL adult.
There will be an Art Show at Imagination Station from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. At the Mechanics Bank Community Room there will be a historic quilt show. In the Railroad Park, there will be an inflated bouncer for the kids.
At the other end of Railroad Park, right on Main Street from 11 a.m. on, there will be beaucoup food. There will 14 different groups with food including ribs, burgers, hot dogs, nachos, funnel cakes, sno-balls, crawfish, ice cream, bar-b-que, cakes, cookies, and my favorite, turkey legs.
Right across the street you can enjoy the arts and crafts booths. We have 12 booths with paintings, collages, pottery, wooden toys, handmade furniture and yard art. This stuff is nice, good quality, local, and all handmade.
At the center of the festival will be the music beginning at 12:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. Several very different acts provide musical variety: from the Water Valley Middle School Girls Band to one person guitar acts: Jake Fussell and Brad Van Winkle, to the Swinging Prevaricators, to a “get on down” rhythm and blues soul act.
The last band, Wiley and the Checkmates, promises to be a bring the house down, get on your feet show. They are going to take us right to dark to the fireworks finale. Do not forget the Fireworks Finale!
At the time of writing this article, it is still before the town election. Fourteen candidates overall participated in this election, and we at Main Street would like to thank all of them for having the courage to enter or re-enter the political process.
The choice to go into politics is usually not an easy one. It seems very easy to make a lot of people angry at you and very difficult to make just a few people happy. Whoever is elected, we wish them the best and look forward to working with them in developing the economic strength and social life of our downtown.
Last week’s survey for favorite Bonds had Sean Connery as the number one 007. Pierce Brosnan came in second and Daniel Craig, the Blond Bond, as a close third. See www.watervalleymainstreet.com for this week’s survey on when and why you are coming to Saturday’s Main Street Market Festival. Check www.movieonmain.com for when James returns.
