By Crystal McGough, Associate Editor
PINSON – The businesses of Main Street, Pinson, who brought the community “Pinson Trade Days” have a new monthly event to offer weekend deal-seekers.
On April 1, 2023, Patti’s on Main Street Flea Market and Consignment Shop, along with other shops up and down the historic street, will host their first monthly “Parking Lot Yard Sales” event from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Patti, of Patti’s on Main Street, founded Pinson’s Trade Days in November 2021 as a way to help save the struggling businesses of Main Street after the 2020 pandemic. The Pinson City Council gave Patti approval to hold Trade Days the first Saturday of each month, with exceptions for other city events such as the Alabama Butterbean Festival and CityFest.
Offering free booth space to vendors and ensuring that the items being sold were affordable for everyone, local shoppers would be hard-pressed to find a better market-style event. This event, however, also came with purpose.
“The pandemic killed the whole street,” Patti said. “We didn’t have much business anyway on Main Street. Most everybody knows that Main Street was dead, but the pandemic just polished it off. … That’s why we do Trade Days … We’ve got to help people.”
Pinson Trade Days took place eight months of the year last year, with the City of Pinson helping out by hiring police officers to shut down the street and paying for portable restrooms for the event.
However, at the Dec. 8, 2022, meeting of the Pinson City Council, the council voted to reduce their support of Trade Days from monthly to quarterly.
“We’ve gave them a year, mostly every month, except for CityFest, Butterbean (and) certain months we couldn’t do it,” Councilor Glenda Kirkland said. “It cost us $18,000 last year to support them with the officers and port-a-johns that we furnished. So, what we’re suggesting … the months that we think would be good would be March, June, September and November.”
Although the businesses of Main Street would no longer be allowed to use the entire street for Trade Days each month, Patti said she asked Mayor Joe Cochran if they could set up community yard sales in the parking lots along Main Street, which he said they could.
Now, Pinson Trade Days will be held the first Saturdays of March, June, September and November, but on the first Saturdays of every other month, there will be Main St. Pinson Parking Lot Yard Sales. Vendors and sellers will still be allowed to set up their space for free, but must sign up for their spot by visiting Patti’s on Main Street Flea Market and Consignment Shop, which is located at 4281 Main Street, Pinson. Patti’s is open Monday – Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.