The night air at the Hitching Lot Farmer’s Market Monday was filled with familiar smells and sounds — fresh catfish dipped in spices, sizzling in peanut oil and the music of Big Joe Shelton, playing the harmonica.

“We had a really good turnout,” Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Nancy Carpenter said of the fifth year of the annual event. “We were originally going to have the event Friday, March 2 but we had to reschedule it because of the bad weather. The rescheduling may have hurt us a little bit, but we are very happy with tonight’s event. We have sold about 200 catfish plates.”

Usually held during the last week of Black History Month, the event celebrates an African-American tradition synonymous with Downtown Columbus, Carpenter noted.

“The name Catfish in the Alley comes from a time when African-Americans would catch catfish out of the river and then cook them and sell them in the alley, which is Fourth Street South, between College Street and Main Street,” she said. “According to legend, you could smell catfish cooking in the alley all weekend long. This section of Fourth Street is a very important area for black history.”

The festival coincided with the run of the Air Force Red Tail Squadron “Rise Above” exhibit — a tribute to World War II’s Tuskegee Airmen, America’s first black military pilots and crew. The exhibit was on a 53-foot trailer, and an original film, “Rise Above,” was shown on a 180-degree screen. Carpenter said the Red Tail exhibit was a new, but welcomed, addition to Catfish in the Alley.

“This was hugely successful,” she explained. “We had probably 500 people come through to see the exhibit. We had an additional 300 people scheduled to see the exhibit Friday, but we had to close it early due to the weather.”

Columbus resident Velma Davis enjoyed the Red Tail exhibit.

“I thought the Red Tail exhibit was great,” she said. “It was very entertaining and very educational. This is my first time to attend Catfish in the Alley and I’ve had a wonderful time. I plan to do this again next year.”

The event was sponsored by the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Jeff Clark was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.