By WILLIE G. MOSELEY
News Editor
Tallassee’s annual Trade Day event, sponsored by the Greater Tallassee Area Chamber of Commerce, was held Saturday on historic King Street.
After initial fears concerning rain, the weather cleared, bringing out a respectable number of shoppers, according to event chairman George McCain.
“We had sold 72 spaces,” McCain said, “and when we got there at four in the morning, the rain had washed away the chalk lines we’d marked. We worked with the vendors about where their spaces were, and we saw stars in the sky before the sun came up, meaning the rain had moved on. Once the sun came out, the people came out.”
McCain noted that one of the more popular vendors was a craftsman who was doing woodwork with a power router and other tools, custom-making signs, plaques and other goods.
A food vendor emulated the woodworking vendor, cooking items as ordered instead of serving pre-packaged foods.
Performances by students of the Pointed Toe dance school delighted attendees, and live music was provided by two very different aggregations—the River City Band is an 11-piece big band outfit from this area and singer Freddy Lovvorn, fronting the Head N’ South Band, proffered a classic country sound.
“Freddy is Emmylou Harris’ first cousin,” McCain said. “I’ve been getting texts and heard comments at church on Sunday. People told me they loved the contrast between the two bands.”
McCain advocated future refinements for subsequent Trade Day events.
“I’d like to see more entertainment,” he said. “It started to come back this year. We had such a diversity of vendors it’s hard to speculate on what else we might need. As far as we’re concerned, it was a big success.”