Merchants marvel with annual Moonlight Madness Event
Moonlight Madness marked the beginning of fall as dozens of area merchants met locals in the streets of downtown Atlanta, Texas for the Atlanta Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual event.
Downtown Atlanta was alight after dark Sunday as scores of area families and friends found fresh food, sales, live music and fun. The annual sales event kicked off at about 7:00 p.m. and several downtown businesses stayed open later to offer up deals to customers in one of the chamber’s most successful turnouts for the event.
“I’m shocked at how busy it is,” Lauren Brown, with SoBo Cold Brew, said. Brown, who is from Bossier City, LA, had pitched a pop-up tent on Main Street and was busy handing out sweet peach tea and other specialty drinks, as well as fliers for a similar event in her hometown, Bossier Night Market. Brown said she was excited to be in Atlanta for Moonlight Madness, as she had very recently gotten her business up and running and was looking forward to other makers markets slated for later this year.
Folks rested at the Vietnam War Memorial, where they could listen to the lilting sounds of live music or support surrounding set-ups, like Texas Titans Softball, who worked to sell popcorn and cotton candy nearby.
Rockin A lit up the corner of E. Main and Williams Streets while groups of teens and young adults flocked in and out of nearby Plaza on Main, where they watched and participated in Karaoke. Across the street, Caffe’ Crema bakery was a full house as they displayed and sold Tara’s Therapy Art.
Imani’s Happy Place was open late for shopping as well as other downtown businesses like Atlanta Floral, Merle Norman and various others. Pop-up tents advertised area businesses and churches while some sold vintage art and home decor.
H&P Custom Designs sold custom, personalized printed T-shirts, while another nearby tent–De’Nic Pet Collection– sold collars and pet supplies with bright, unique designs. Phenomenal local artist Estella A. Ramage came out with her husband Eric and their 8-year-old daughter Adahlee to sell one-of-a-kind pieces she created with ceramics and clay.
Ramage said she loves using mixed media, like photography, clay, paint and is still discovering other ways to make art and advertises her beautiful pieces on Facebook.
“Adahlee loves to help,” Ramage said. “She’s my little sales lady.”
ETOUFEE’s Catering was a hidden gem tucked away by the railroad tracks and Chamber, where Joyce Washington sold her quality, much sought-after Cajun cooking near the Union Pacific Railway Car.
Life Share mobile blood donations were given near the chamber and area businesses, such as Game Time Pest Control, advertised services for pest and rodent control for business and residential. Life Tabernacle Apostolic Church was one of two churches that set up for the event, where they handed out homemade cookies and gave away tickets to win a kid’s tablet and a $50.00 gift card.
Jennifer Campbell and daughter Reanna Campbell handed out tickets with Anita Lee–wife of Pastor Tony Lee–while Rebecca Goth & Travis Lee happily spoke of their church, located on High School Lane. “We’re excited to be here,” Travis Lee said, adding that the drawing for the tablet and gift certificate were free and would probably be announced on Tuesday.
Local businesses such as Sassy Crafts set up shop along with Kalli’s Closet, which sells shabby-chic and varied clothing and accessories. Kalli’s Closet is run by Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law team Kayla Denvers Williams and Kayla Shelton Williams out of neighboring Linden, Texas.
“We do live sales on Facebook every Thursday and are working on a mobile boutique,” said Mother-in-law, Kayla. “We do local pickup for Atlanta or Linden but we also ship.” The two ladies were excited for next year when they will likely be selling out of their mobile unit.“We’re having a blast,” Williams said.
Outside the library, chairs and tables lined the center of the street outside the library where refreshments were sold and folks could sit and eat and listen to Nicci McCarty’s lovely live performance on vocals and guitar with accompaniment. McCarty sings an eclectic mix of her own original music and covers from popular music from the ’90s and 2000s, such as “Breathe” by Anna Nalick.
Those interested in seeing McCarty play live again can follow her on FB & Instagram under Nicci McCarty Music for updates. She is slated to play Hopkins Icehouse in Texarkana Saturday, Sept 10 from 7 pm- 10 pm.
Unfortunately, Moonlight Madness had to end a little earlier than expected, due to a rainstorm, but Atlanta Area Chamber of Commerce posted a thanks to the local community later Sunday night on Facebook.
“We are sad that Mother Nature ended the event early, but we are thankful for a great night,” the chamber posted. “The AACC would like to extend a huge thank you to our downtown merchants, vendors, musical guests, and visitors for a wonderful evening.
We would especially like to thank all of the wonderful members of our community who stepped in to help when the weather turned bad–your willingness to step up is why we love our community so much.”
Those interested can attend Bossier City’s Night Market for a similar one-night-only event from 4 p.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, which Brown described as a unique open-air market with a fireworks show. “It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Brown said.