For 24 years now, nothing has brought our community closer together than the annual Market Street Festival. We mean this quite literally.
For almost a quarter of a century, thousands of people from all over the Golden Triangle and beyond arrive in downtown Columbus for a celebration that seems to have something for everyone. The event is the largest gathering in Columbus by a wide margin, dwarfing the Columbus Christmas Parade in attendance.
What was once a Saturday event has expanded to a two-day celebration kicked off by a Friday night concert on Main Street that continues to build a following.
Each year, the event’s organizer, Main Street Columbus, adds a new feature or a new wrinkle on an existing feature to keep things interesting.
From music to a 5K run to arts/crafts to kids’ activities to an ever-expanding array of food vendors, the Market Street Festival is the city’s signature event.
It’s a place for our diverse community to come together and enjoy the things we share in common that can sometimes be taken for granted.
The festival is a two-day event that takes months of careful planning and the active participation of volunteers, business owners and city workers.
It’s worth remembering that only a handful of Mississippi cities have been able to conduct an event on this scale.
As is always the case, no amount of preparation can account for the weather. Last year, a day-long drizzling rain put a damper on the event and the forecast for Saturday isn’t particularly promising this year. But weather can be capricious, so we’re hoping the forecast for rain is off by a few hours and will commence at say, 6 p.m. or so. No one will object to that.
If not, we encourage folks to dress in their rain gear, defy Mother Nature and come out anyway. (We should all be used to the rain by now anyway.) After all, a soggy celebration is still a celebration.
We commend all those whose work has set the stage for another great festival. Let’s hope Ma Nature smiles on that hard work this weekend.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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