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November 8, 2018
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November 9, 2018
A local plantation home and historical icon’s fundraiser attracted heavy crowds Saturday, as gawkers and shoppers made their way through stalls stacked with hand-made arts, crafts and other items.
Southdown Plantation held its 33rd annual “‘Southdown Marketplace,” the pink antebellum home the setting far vendors whose canopies extended throughout the spacious grounds.
“It’s just a beautiful day for craft shopping.” said Becky Dufren, who was eating lunch with her family, “We bought a few Christmas gifts, we bought some pickles.,. We buy from him every year.”
Her grand-daughter Emrie Dufrene wouldn’t speak to a stranger bat eventually, with a little coaxing from her family, showed off her new white and pink unicorn dreamcatcher.
The pickles, Dufrene spoke of came from a stand which had a constant flood of customers and advertised with a sign which read “The second best pickles in the world.”
“Are you looking for perfection.” responded Mickey Fluett or “Mickel the Pickle Guy”, when asked which were the best “If I told you I was the beet, you never would have asked.”
Fluit. of Mississippi, is a former high school teacher of 21 years, who became a full time pickle-monger after he noticed it was making more money – he cleared about 600 jars by 2pm.
When asked what he taught, he responded’ “hardly anyone or anything,” but eventually said math adding that if you can sell math to high-schoolers you can sell anything.
His shop was near the center of a row of canopies Between each were grass pathways which people swarmed from one shop to the next Like the
trading caravans of old, the pop-up shops would be dismantled by night, and some venders would resupply for the next event at some other venue.
A next-door shop was selling books about local culture. The owner, Alexis Baud, had either illustrated or both illustrated and wrote each of them.
This was her first time as a vender at this venue, said Baud, usually she sold at purely art markets, but was pleased because today she more than broke even.
Mother of 2, Baud spoke with excitement about how events like this were allowing her to make a living through her passion:
“Before it’s always filled in the bumps,” she said. “This is the first year that I think this might be a grown up level of income.”
The Southdown Plantation holds museum tours, and during the event was holding them for $6.
The executive director, Nicole Chaisson, could be found moving from vender to vender. She said her favorites were the jewelry.
Chaisson said that this was one of the two main fundraisers the plantation holds per year – the other is always the weekend before Easter. These are important, said Chaisson, because the museum receives no government funding at all.
One could not pass up the opportunity to ask about the vibrant pink color and Chaisson happily explained.
According to Chaisson the clay from the “blackjack” soil was used to create the original bricks. She said it is speculated that the orange color seeped through the white paint and created the original pink tinge.
Anxious to get back to her treasure hunting, Chaisson said her goodbyes and disappeared back into the crowds.
