Canton Flea Market, Mississippi
Thursday May 12th, 2011
The Canton Flea Market Arts and Crafts Show is held on the lawn of the historic Madison County Courthouse. This has become one of the largest outdoor crafts market in the South. The Canton Flea Market is always held on the second Thursday in May and October every year. It began in 1965 as an art show with local artists hanging their paintings on the wrought iron fence surrounding the grounds of the Courthouse. Voted one of the Top Twenty Events in the southeast, this Show attracts up to 1,000 artists and craftsmen from across the country.
Traffic and parking is a major challenge for the flea market. When anywhere from 30,000-60,000 visitors show up to a town of approximately 10,000 people congestion is a problem. We welcome this event as an opportunity to meet new people, expose them to our delicious products as well as a chance to let more people know where we are. So we started free shuttle and parking service to Canton Flea Market visitors in May 2010. In the beginning it was a slow response from visitor due to lack of knowledge about our service and that we had moved to Canton. In the fall of 2010 our signage started pulling them in. And this past flea market, not only were we remembered by previous flea market patrons, but many discovered the hospitality of Bass Pecan. Our goal is to fill our entire parking lot as well as our back lawn with Flea Market and future Bass Pecan customers.
Our day started at about 6 AM. We have 1 bus on site with the second arriving around 7:00. We see our first visitors around 6:30. Each patron is asked to visit the store, sign our visitors register (so nobody is left behind) and pick up their complimentary Visitors Appreciation 10% Discount Card. While inside, each visitor has the opportunity to sample a wide variety of Bass Pecan product and to browse the store. Some of the items sampled this year were our best selling Bass pecan Pepper Jelly, Strawberry Five Pepper Jelly, as well as one of our many delectable dipping oil mixes. As usual, we always keep samples of all of our pecan and other nut flavors available. This includes but is not limited to our Milk and White Chocolate, Praline, Cinnamon, Honey, Cajun, Roasted and Salted, and Natural Pecans as well as our Roasted and Salted and Chocolate covered Almonds and Cashews. Our Pistachios are always a hit as well. Lest I forget, there are Traditional Pecan Pie and Chocolate Pecan Pie samples, as well as samples of many recipes made with our delicious products. We also have several salsas and many other southern gourmet products available. Those visiting the store for the first time are amazed at the quality, flavor and variety of product offered by Bass Pecan.
In the morning the weather was perfect, breezy and little bit cool, but as the day progressed the Mississippi weather got hotter and hotter. Around noon it was really hot. People in the flea market were looking for shade to cool down. However, Bass Pecan kept the shuttle going non-stop to pick up hot shoppers and let them cool down on the ride back to our store to unload what had been conquered, taste more samples, rest in a more than cool environment and utilize the cleanest restrooms found on Interstate 55.
This has truly become a semi-annual event for our store and staff. We invite any and all to take advantage of our flea market free parking and shuttle services. We have about 100 parking spaces up front with another four acres behind our building ready for any overflow.
Ya’ll make sure to come see us.
Bass Pecan.
