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A Big Turnout for Market Days

Tom Flanigan

An estimated 20,000 eager shoppers headed to the North Florida Fairgrounds over the weekend for the Tallahassee Museum's Market Days show and sale.

There were 300 artists and craftspeople showing and selling their wares. Among them, Saint Augustine potter Sally Douglas.

"I make all my own glazes and develop all my own formulas so that makes them look like they're not from Target," she grinned while customers swarmed through the Fairground's exhibit halls.

There were hometown artists, too. Wood Turner Walt Wager, who now lives in Monticello, taught at FSU for 40 years.

"It's not about the money," he insisted, indicating an impressive array of exquisitely hand-turned items. "It's about meeting people and showing the work and hopefully someone enjoys it and buys some heirloom pieces."

Tallahassee Museum Executive Director Russell Daws said it's an important event all around.

"This is our 60th anniversary," he noted. "And we're celebrating that, but it gives us a great chance to look to the future and where we're going to be in the next 60 years."

And there's also benefit for the community, Daws saying a study last year pegged Market Day's local economic impact at around $5 million dollars.

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Tom Flanigan has been with WFSU News since 2006, focusing on covering local personalities, issues, and organizations. He began his broadcast career more than 30 years before that and covered news for several radio stations in Florida, Texas, and his home state of Maryland.

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