Batman and Captain America greeted their fans during Saturday’s Square Fair.
Alvin Herring with his 1957 Chevrolet at the Square Fair’s car show.
Recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month and urging mammograms, Jasmine Culbreth, Sabrina Pope, and Luke Smith man the BCCCP booth.
Square Fair brought out hundreds of people to downtown Clinton, where they browsed booths, ate a little barbecue and some sweets, listened to some music and enjoyed the beauty of the day.
Brandan Williams worked at his brother Andrew’s BBQ tent, serving BBQ to customers.
It was a day of fun, food, fellowship, and entertainment as hundreds flocked to downtown Clinton Saturday for the 2024 Square Fair.
On a clear, sunny fall day, 122 vendors lined the streets all around the courthouse, down Libson Street to the front of Clinton’s City Hall. Vance, Main, Wall, and Libson streets were overrun with fun activities and lots of food as festival goers crowded the streets to enjoy a variety of cultures.
Dubbed Square Fair: A Taste of Cultures,” this year’s event honed in on a variety of cultures through entertainment, food and vendors.
At one point during the day, it was almost shoulder to shoulder, as crowds waited in line to buy their choice of barbecue, cold drinks, trinkets, and gather information from non-profit foundation tents, and check out commercial items for sale.
Artwork, home décor, festival memorabilia, health care, community involvement, a mural dedication, food, dancers, singers, a car show, and even superheroes were in abundant supply during the day-long event.
“This year’s Square Fair was the most participation that we’ve ever had in the way of vendors,” said Mary Rose, event organizer and the city’s director of Planning and Development. “We were thrilled. I received several reports from business owners that they, too, had wonderful turnouts on Saturday, which we were all very happy to hear about.”
“We were every pleased with the size of the crowd; the weather was perfect this year, and thanks to that we had one of our largest ever attended Square Fairs,” Rose added.
Rose, who also serves as Main Street director, praised the Arts Council for its dedicated work on the entertainment at the main stage, and the partnerships and participation with other organizations that led to such a successful event. “We’re excited about the partnerships that helped to make things like this happen,” she said, mentioning the Sampson History Museum, the grants to help pay for costs, and the car show that everyone enjoyed.
Among the crowded streets of event-goers, Lolita Hampton was taking in all the sights with her daughter. “We’re having a ball out here; I went and got me some food,” she laughed.
Daughters of the American Revolution had a booth set up with thank you cards that festival-goers could sign, thanking veterans for their service.
The Ol’ Lightnin’ Rods Car Club Show featured 164 unique restored cars and trucks dating back to the 1920s. From hot rods to muscle cars, rum-runners, old Jeeps, and classic pickups, all were parked at the Clinton City Market for everyone interested to admire.
Local classic car enthusiast Alvin Herring was sitting with his 1957 Chevrolet pickup truck on display during the car show. “It’s a 1980 Chevrolet color. I’ve owned it about 25 years. Having a good time today,” he said.
And those taking a look at the cars thought so too.
“They’ve got a lot of cars and things going on today. I’m enjoying walking around checking things out,” said Junior Boomer, who was with his side-kick, Ace.
The Sampson County Breast Cervical Cancer Control Program (BCCCP) had a busy booth, with many festival-goers stopping to gather information about mammograms and self breast exams. Jasmine Culbreth, Sabrina Pope, and Luke Smith manned the booth Saturday, helping distribute important life- saving information for people to read.
Cloggers from Carolina Dance Company entertained the crowd with different age groups and types of clogging, cheered on by the crowd of spectators.
Homemade ice cream, cookies, cakes, and cola were available to wash down the barbecue.
Ivy and Jennifer Cowen were taking a moment to look around and decide what to go see next. “Just checking things out. This is nice. It’s the first time I knew this was going on,” Cowen remarked.
Batman and Captain America didn’t have much to say, as they were too busy saving children from the loud sounds of the festival and boredom, mostly enjoyed by teenagers and adults. They posed for photos with their fans, taking time out from fighting crime and saving the world to stop in downtown Clinton for the afternoon.
“What a fun day,” said Josh Harrell. “I’m meeting so many different people from all walks of life. I’m glad to be out here, meeting and greeting with people, and having a good time; just enjoying the festivities.”
Steve Wilson was having fun, too, after just leaving one of the barbecue tents, “The food is great; we just had a barbecue sandwich, and we like the crowd. Good to see people out and about today.”
The festivities started to wrapping up just after 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon, as tired adults, sleepy children, and worn out pets made their way back to their cars to go home.