Market Street is more than a festival; it”s the ultimate business card.
As the festival expands in every way, from the number of visitors, to the number of vendors to the square footage covered, it has become one of the best forms of advertising in the Golden Triangle.
Columbus Main Street Director Amber Murphree-Brislin expects 40,000 festival-goers walked through downtown Columbus this weekend. A survey team from the Mississippi State University Extension Service will deliver a more accurate figure in the near future. The economic impact will also be calculated next week.
But Brislin already knows the festival is growing. Market Street hosted 212 artist vendors and 20 food vendors after capping the number of spaces and turning several vendors away. The festival committee also gave each booth a little more space than last year, which spread the festival”s footprint further than ever.
“The goal is to encompass all of downtown,” she said.
The goal of many new Columbus businesses is to get noticed at Market Street.
Bee Kosa, one of the owners of Bann Thai, the new Thai food restaurant on Military Road, barely had time to answer questions between scooping pad thai into styrofoam plates for hungry customers.
The restaurant has been open just five months, but Kosa”s family has been in Columbus for 10 years. She said their first foray into Market Street was going well as the cook behind her worked on a fresh batch of rice.
Tyroid Weston was also sweating over hot grease as he retrieved baskets of chicken wings from the deep fryer Saturday. Weston, owner of G.I. Hotwings on Highway 69, which opened just four weeks ago, had nine of his 40 flavors of wings on hand as well as nine different flavors of fries.
Weston was using the opportunity to plug his plans to expand his repertoire to 105 flavors of wings.
“So far it”s been motivating for future endeavors. It”s a good tool for people in small businesses to get their products recognized. That”s why I came out, to get my product known around town,” he said.
Massage therapist Terrance Bonner was thinking the exact same thing. Bonner, a masseuse at Jon” Ric International Salon and Day Spas on Main Street, was providing chair massages for $1 per minute.
“This is my first year. I graduated in November from massage therapy school and started in January at Jon” Ric. And this is just an opportunity to get myself out there. There are a lot of different people from a lot of different places coming out,” said Bonner.
Apparently, the newbies picked a good year to set up shop. Market Street veterans were convinced foot traffic was thicker this year than past years.
Cammie Carlile, of Aberdeen, who was selling her husband”s homemade Twist of Nature walking sticks and canes, has been at Market Street for the past three years and said this year was the biggest.
Nelajah Gowan, from Hattiesburg, who was selling homemade, Afrocentric clothing and merchandise for the Kuumba Children”s Education Foundation, works at art shows all over Mississippi and some out of state. She said Market Street is already one of the biggest shows and is noticeably bigger this year.
“This is our third year doing Market Street. This year seems like it”s bigger and better. Even the entertainment looks bigger and better,” she said.
Brislin said Market Street hosted 20 musical acts this year, including a shakeup in venue, holding Saturday night”s final concert at the Riverwalk rather than the main stage on Main Street.
The festival also departed from its conventional booking, adding the Michael Jackson tribute band Moonwalker and Delta bluesman James “Super Chikan” Johnson.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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