Harvest Fall Festival brings visitors back to downtown Clinton
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Jasmine Holeton and Kathryn Holeton of Clinton take a break in front of Granny’s Attic on Market Street on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 3, during the Fall Harvest Sale. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Stephanie Benson, front left, who operates a booth in Granny’s Attic, speaks with customer Kerri Holeton during Saturday’s Fall Harvest Sale on Market Street in Historic Downtown Clinton. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Shoppers line the sidewalks on Market Street in downtown Clinton on Saturday, Oct. 3, during the Fall Harvest Sale event. - G. Chambers Williams III
Last weekend’s Fall Harvest Sale brought a steady stream of visitors to downtown Clinton as the merchants put up fall-themed displays and offered some unusual items and even some bargain prices for the event.
The Harvest Sale essentially replaced the Historic Downtown Clinton Merchants Association’s annual Fall Antiques Festival, which was canceled in August because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But merchants found the consumer response to the Harvest Sale to be heartening, especially since so many of the downtown stores were closed during the height of the pandemic shutdown in March and April, and have been struggling to see visitors and sales return to normal since reopening was allowed in May.
“It’s been busier than I expected,” Stephanie Benson, who has operated a booth in Granny’s Attic since 2015, said of the event on Saturday afternoon. “I think a lot of people showed up thinking the fall festival was still on.”
Missing were the street vendors who normally show up for the downtown antiques festivals, and Market Street was not shut down to traffic as it usually is. But there were at least three food trucks on the scene, and the displays and merchandise tables in front of many of the stores were well done and appealing to visitors, some of them said.
“It’s very nice how everything looks today,” said Elizabeth Balcerek, who came from Cullowhee, North Carolina, for the event, which she attended with her daughter, Katherine Medline of Clinton.
“We love downtown Clinton, and we come over here frequently,” Balcerek said. “I could come here and spend two or three days and not see the same thing twice.”
Balcerek and Medline found a pair of vintage electric sconces they couldn’t resist buying.
Teresa Crabtree, owner of Shabby Remakes on Market Street, said she was “quite pleased” with Saturday’s turnout of shoppers.
“We have been super busy today, and super blessed,” she said. “For us, this takes the place of the fall festival.”
Pumpkins, gourds, mums and other fall-themed decorations were on display throughout the Market Street area as shoppers wandered up and down the street, browsing the items on tables outside the various stores, and going inside to check out the regular merchandise.