PASCAGOULA -- The early crowd was slow to open their wallets at the Zonta Club Arts and Crafts Show on Saturday, but first-timers and regular crafts vendors were not worried.
David Caton of Mobile waits for customers to make a purchase of his intarsia creations at the 34th Zonta festival, where plenty of finds, food and kids activities brought more than 10,000 to Downtown Plaza.
"I think it will pick up," said Sandi Hults of Gautier. "It's a pretty day and I think people will come out."
She was right.
Festival organizers estimated that more than 10,000 people visited Downtown Plaza on Saturday for the 34th annual festival, which covered about two blocks of businesses and stretched from Pascagoula Street to Anchor Square near the Pascagoula River on Fredrick Street.
"There are a lot of lookers," said Ann Mack, whose has displayed nature photography at the festival for three years. "The economy is slow. It's a good way to get exposure."
She said that her sales were good last year. "The first year was awesome,"
said Mack.
Hults, David and Nell Caton of Mobile, and Bruce Bravo of Wiggins are all first-time vendors at the Zonta crafts show. Hults provided jewelry made of seashells that her husband collects from the barrier islands in the gulf.
Bravo makes unique wooden bowls, none with the same shape because of the material. "It's all made of the knot from the side of a tree. It's all natural color," he said.
He is a regular vendor at art and craft shows. So are the Catons.
Paul Bravo makes bowls from tree knots.
"I just pick art shows and I go to them," said Bravo. "I took a quick walk around, and this thing is huge."
David Canton said, "We are into arts and crafts anyway. We were looking for something nearby that we didn't have to go too far."
He does woodwork called intrasia. "It's a technique where the pieces look like puzzles. I take them apart, hand sand them and glue them back together."
Nell Caton makes arm pillows, quilts and other household items.
Among the many offerings at Saturday's arts and crafts show in Downtown Plaza were gourds, t-shirts, toys, flowers, jewelry, shoes, pottery, as well as food, classic cars, several bands, singers and dance troups.
A vendor displays baskets filled with flowers in autum colors.
Tie-dyed shirts draw customers.
Nature photographer Ann Mack of Moss Point said business was awesome last year during Zonta's arts and crafts festival. Saturday's start was slow, which she said that was part of the economy. She expected sales to increase before day's end.
Photographer Ann Mack talks to Julie Bass about her nature photography during the Zonta Club Arts and Crafts Show on Saturday in Pascagoula.
Amanda Bass of Mobile, 22, (left) grew up in Pascagoula and remembers attending the Zonta Club every year since she was a very young child. The 22-year-old was at the club's arts and crafts festival Saturday with her mother, Julie Bass, and grandmother Lynn Mullen.
Sandi Hults of Gautier shows off some of the jewelry she and her husband make from seashells.
