By Tuesday afternoon, he was ready. His tables, his tent and hiswares were all gathered and squared away, waiting forSaturday.

Brookhaven’s Otis Blades has been selling glass- and ironware atthe Wesson Flea Market for 25 years, taking along a small team ofhis friends who dabble in the antique arts and help him do businessduring the daylong event. He does well at the business, but he doesbetter at fellowshipping.

That’s why he takes his friends – to keep an eye on his booth whilehe goes off wandering.

“I don’t stay there all the time. You want to sell your stuff, butyou have to look out for other people, too – go see what you canfind,” Blades said. “It’s exciting to go and see other folks’stuff. You meet people you didn’t know, and some you just haven’tseen in a while.”

Blades will have plenty to look through Saturday when the 39thannual Wesson Flea Market opens in downtown Wesson at 8 a.m.,tightly constricting Highway 51 and closing up several city streetswith almost 200 arts, crafts and food vendors.

Obviously, this year’s Wesson Flea Market is not going to break newgrounds. In fact, other than a few new vendors, the event will beexactly like it was last year and the years before.

But that unchanging, small-town homeliness that Blades and hispeers enjoy is where the market gets its strength.

“I’ve had a million vendors tell me Wesson folks are the nicestpeople they’ve ever been around. They want to come here,” saidmarket organizer Kenneth Furr.

Furr said a variety of vendors will make the trip to tiny Wessonthis weekend from all over Mississippi, as well as from Alabama,Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas.

They’ll begin setting up their booths after 5 p.m. Friday, and someof them will begin meeting visitors and unloading products thatnight as the rest of the market gets organized for Saturdaymorning.

What kind of items the multitude of vendors will offer Saturdayvaries – many of them are familiar faces after attending localfestivals in Brookhaven, Hazlehurst and Summit, but many more areheading to Southwest Mississippi for the first time. Either way,the goods should be worth a look.

“There’s no junk,” Furr said. “Most of them sell good crafts. Comedown here and see what you might want to buy. Somebody might havesomething you want if you just come look a while.”

Vendor spaces are limited and becoming more so by the hour, butFurr said any local sellers who wish to set up shop at the fleamarket may contact him at 601-643-2672 to reserve a spot. A 10-feetby 10-feet space is $40.

Furr, 82, has been organizing the annual market every year since1971, when the event was born as a benefit to the Wesson VolunteerFire Department. It was organized in conjunction with the WessonMerchants Association, forerunner to the town’s chamber ofcommerce.

“The first year we didn’t know anybody, didn’t know who to get. Wejust put up some advertising,” Furr said. “People started coming,and it just kept on getting bigger.”

The market has grown quite big these days.

Mayor Alton Shaw said the Wesson Flea Market usually draws 10,000or more people throughout the day when the weather is nice – aboutfive times the town’s size. And the weather is shaping up to benice this year.

The Weather Channel’s weekend forecast for Wesson predicts a highof 81 degrees Saturday, with clear skies and no chance forrain.

“It’s a huge boost for the town,” Shaw said of the market. “Itbrings people in from outside the community who normally wouldn’tcome here, and it exposes them to the environment and the localbusinesses. Having it right here in the downtown area makes itwalkable and accessible. It has a good draw factor to it.”