Despite overcast skies and threats of rain, the 14th Market Street Festival in downtown Columbus was a rousing success. Vendors, musical acts and visitors from a few blocks over and a few states away all enjoyed a good Southern time.

It will be Monday morning, said Main Street Columbus Director Amber Murphrey, until official attendance figures are released, but she did say this year has been better than any in the past.

“I know we’ve sold more tickets than we ever have. Food vendors sold more than they ever have, and bartenders made more Friday night than they did during both nights last year,” she said.

All in all there were 212 arts and crafts vendors, 34 food vendors and 20 musical acts at the 2009 Market Street Festival. All the featured musical acts, which included Blue Mountain, Class of ’65 and Paul Thorn, were Mississippi based.

Taking a different path than coverage in years past, the Dispatch sent Wade Leonard out into the festival. The following covers his experiences of the day’s activity:

n 8:30 a.m. Main Street near Café on Main

Kevin Edmond, Brenda Jones and Skeet Wells of the Columbus Street Department take a break from making sure downtown Columbus was sparkling clean for Saturday’s festival.

“It’s all right, it’s OK,” said Kevin Edmond. “We’re just here to make sure everything gets cleaned up.”

They didn’t have time to sit around for long; their radios began exploding after only a few minutes with instructions and directions of where to move the trash that was already collecting.

n 8:45 a.m. Corner of Main and Fifth streets

Jonathan Cumberland sharpens his sketching skills by drawing his father, Dwight. Cumberland, who designed the posters and badges for this year’s event, had a tent located on prime Market Street real estate and sold portraits drawn in charcoal for $30.

“I did it last year, and hopefully we’ll do well this year,” he said.

n 9:00 a.m. Main Street near 509 Tapas

As a few drops of rain began to threaten the festival, Columbus Police Officer Tony Hibbler was all smiles as he helped a vendor open up shop.

“This is the roughest day of the year, but it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Hibbler, who was on duty from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., has been helping out with the festival for five years.

n 9:14 a.m. Main Street near Mississippi Coffee House

Kenneth Montgomery and his crew were busy with final preparations getting the Roast and Boast Barbeque Tent open.

“We’re selling jumbo barbecue sandwiches,” said Montgomery. “We’ve spent 20 hours, starting Thursday, cooking up the barbecue. If we’ve got any left over we’ll probably put it in the church collection plate.”

The profits from the Roast and Boast booth will go to Camp Rising Sun.

n 9:30 a.m. Main Street near Belltone

Chad Dill hauled 700 pounds of live farm-raised Louisiana crawfish into one of several plastic tubs. The little guys were only minutes away from the boiler, and on their way to being plated and sold for $8 a plate.

Not realizing they were alive, Dispatch photographer Luisa Porter screamed and jumped about five feet backward once she saw them wriggling around.

n 9:46 a.m. Main Street near River Hill Chevron

Tracy Carrol, of Grey Falls, Mont., had never been to the South before and came to visit some friends.

“In Montana there’s 29 inches of snow, and here I’m sweating like I’ve never sweat before,” he said.

The temperature at the time was barely over 75 degrees. When Carrol was told how hot it would get in a few hours time, he shook his head.

“I feel like I’m breathing water,” he said.

n 10 a.m. Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market

Scott Hannon, owner of Triangle Maintenance Service, scratched Lady, The Recycling Dog, behind the ears.

He was getting ready to head over to the TMS booth on Fifth Street where TMS employees were going to attempt to sign people up for curbside recycling.

“We’ve already got about 80 houses signed up,” he said.

n 10:15 a.m. Farmers’ Market

Alexis and Victoria Bailey, both 15 months old, were heading to their first Market Street Festival. Their mother, Shanna Bailey, had stopped by the Farmer’s Market to pick up some fresh produce and herbs.

Bailey was also perusing the strawberries being sold by M.C. Ellis of Mayhew Tomato Farm. Some of Ellis’ strawberries were the size of billiard balls. When asked the secret of his monster strawberries, Ellis said, “Variety, technology, a lot of water and fertilizer.”

n 10:20 a.m. River Hill Chevron

The employees of River Hill were busy dealing with what they say is the busiest day of the year.

“Everybody has to work on Market Street,” said Lashantra Thompson who has worked at the gas station for six years. “It gets crazy in here; if you come back around 12 o’clock, you’ll see.”

When she gets off work, Thompson plans to take her kids to the festival.

“This will be my baby’s first Market Street,” she said. “I want to go find some of those quilted handbags. I love those.”

n 10:30 a.m. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Members of the Kiwanas Club were still serving breakfast to folks late in the morning. Since before Market Street began, the club has held a pancake breakfast every year to help fund their club and raise money for youth-related charities.

A small bird had flown into the building through a window and was making manic swoops through the eating area.

Charlie Box, who was flipping pancakes was not concerned by the critter.

“He’ll get out eventually,” he said.

n 10:42 a.m. Cable One

Charlie Gilliam who works for Cable One was babysitting Righty the Ball Python for Daryl Sprout, the snake handler.

He tried to hand the snake to Dispatch photographer Luisa Porter who wanted nothing to do with the animal.

“It’s probably for the best,” he said. “Just a minute ago he crawled down one lady’s blouse.”

n 10:50 a.m. Parking lot near River Hill

Bob Cummings and Hazel Whaley proudly stood near the 1982 El Camino Cummings has restored from the ground up.

The two own the car and were showing it off at the Market Street car show.

Cummings took the once dilapidated vehicle and transformed it into an SS Clone.

“He rebuilt everything by himself,” said Whaley. “He did it all.”

“I’ve been working on cars all my life,” said Cummings.

n 11 a.m. Main Street near the main stage

Beverley Brooks and Mark Walters were selling soft drinks and bottled water to the patrons of Market Street. The pair has been manning the booths for five years now, they do it to help raise money for the Columbus Arts Council.

“My parents are real involved with the Arts Council,” said Walters. “So, I guess I’m just being a good son.”

The pair planned to sit in the booth all day long.

n 11:15 a.m. Main Street near the main stage

Irvin McCoy is Columbus’ self-proclaimed peanut man.

“I’m going to be a top-shelf peanut man,” he said. “I don’t go into funnel cakes or anything like that, just peanuts.”

This year is his first year selling his well-known boiled peanuts at Market Street. Normally, you can find him at the Farmer’s Market or on Highway 45 near Golden Triangle Federal Credit Union.

“We boil ’em and we roast ’em, but we don’t fry ’em,” he said. “There’s just some things you don’t do to a peanut.”

n 11:20 a.m. Main Street near the main stage

The United Methodist Men continued their tradition of raising money for the church by selling some of the most mouth-watering Market Street fare.

“We’re selling pork chop sandwiches, sausage sandwiches, grilled bologna sandwiches and garbage-can gumbo,” said Justin Harris. “I can’t tell you what goes in the gumbo.”

Those who ordered the gumbo weren’t complaining.

“I haven’t had anything really good to eat in forever, and this is really, really, really good,” said a passerby.

n 11:25 a.m. Main Street near the main stage

George Lee Dyson, who was sporting a handmade wooden walking staff, a hodgepodge of leather pouches and bags around his neck, and a handmade pig-skin vest, resembled a bayou wizard.

He was taking a break from working his booth near the main stage, and sharing his life philosophy with anyone who cared to listen.

“If you want to get somewhere in the world, you have to get noticed,” he said.

n 12:15 p.m. Cable One

Daryl Sprout kept adults and children entertained and educated during the reptile show, much like those he has been performing at Market Street for the past eight years.

Children screamed as Sprout handled the snakes with the confidence of a seasoned veteran. He also educated the crowd about snakes and how to tell the difference between a venomous and non-venomous snake.

“It’s a reptile dysfunction,” he said.

All the adults laughed; all the kids seemed to like looking at the snakes.

n 1 p.m. Near St. Paul ’s Episcopal Church

On loan from the West Point Police Department, the CPD officers on patrol were armed with several Segues. The odd two wheeled conveyance devices helped the officers keep an eye on the crowd and move around the festival with ease.

“It sure beats walking,” said Lt. Carroll Culpepper. “The good thing is these things put you so high up, you can see everything that’s going on.”

This reporter managed to convince Sgt. Ross Richardson to offer a lesson on Segue driving.

“You just use your balance to move around,” he said as he held onto the device. “It’s just about impossible to fall off of one.”

Shortly later, this reporter managed to do the impossible and fall off of one.

n 1:30 p.m. College Street

Wafting over the crowds was the music of Wakay Cacuango of Nashville, Tenn. Cacuango, a Dakota-Sioux Indian, sold several Native American instruments and jewelry his family made by hand. He also entertained the crowd by playing popular songs on the pan flute.

“I’ve been doing this for the past 16 years, and I’ve gone all over the world,” he said.

This is Cacuango’s second trip to the festival.

n 2 p.m. Fifth Street South

Jane Crawford is having a good day. In less than 10 minutes she sold 27 stained-glass decorative stars from her booth, Stained Glass Works.

“Everything we do is handmade right here in Columbus,” she said. “I honestly think this is the best we’ve ever done.”

Crawford said once she starts making the stars it is difficult to stop.

“We made 80 in one day,” she said. “Once I start, I can’t stop. It’s a sickness.”