Main Street Fairmont to hold first Hometown Market of the summer this weekend

While the vendors will be lined up and down Monroe Street, the live music will be held inside the old firehouse on the same street.

The event will mark the first Hometown Market overseen by new Main Street Fairmont Executive Director Alex Petry, who said that in the past, he has always looked forward to seeing the markets unfold.

“The Hometown Market serves as a food and craft vendor market, and each event has its own theme,” Petry said. “We just want to invite the community and vendors downtown. It’s here to have a great time and celebrate business downtown.”

Petry added the events are a great way to both showcase the artisans and vendors set up at the market and already established downtown businesses that also benefit from having the influx of people in town. Petry said that one of Main Street Fairmont’s main goals is to boost interest and traffic in the downtown area, and these markets accomplish that every summer.

“It provides an opportunity for our downtown businesses to gain a little more food traffic and for folks to walk by the storefronts and, hopefully, walk in and patronize those businesses,” Petry said.

This weekend’s event is subtitled “Music on Monroe," and will look a bit different from upcoming Hometown Markets, which will feature additional events like an annual car show and the Tomato Festival.

Petry said it’s important for each Hometown Market to have its own unique feel.

“It’s good to have a variety,” Petry said. “I think people would still enjoy coming if it was just the market every month, but it adds a little bit more excitement knowing that each event will be different and will have a little something different to offer.”

Petry said this weekend’s Music on Monroe Hometown Market will kick off the summer season with a bang, and he encouraged everyone to stop by downtown Fairmont on Saturday to check it out.

“This event is going to be a great kick off to the summer,” Petry said. “We have some awesome vendors lined up and three musical acts playing that are all very unique and different from each other. Each musical act also provides something different. This event will be a great showcase of what the area has to offer in terms of both art and business.”

For more information on Saturday’s Hometown Market and other upcoming Main Street Fairmont events, visit www.mainstreetfairmont.org/events.