Mule Camp Market returns to Gainesville

GAINESVILLE - Mid-October is back in Gainesville and so is the city’s fall festival classic, Mule Camp Market, downtown on the square.

The opening was strong Friday morning for the event, sponsored by the Gainesville Jaycees, despite cloudy skies and economic conditions this year.

Jaycee Ben Hawkins invited everyone to forget their troubles, come to Mule Camp and have a good time, and he expects around 100,000 people just might do that this weekend with plenty to see, do and buy. And the vendors and exhibitors are waiting.

“The last number I heard was 150 vendors and it could be over that number,” Hawkins said. “It’s as full as I’ve ever seen it.”

Elizabeth Westbrooks with the Sunshine Seniors expects to sell a lot of fresh vegetables on the square.

"Tell everybody to come on by," she said. "I have cabbage, sweet potatoes, onions, collards, turnip greens. You name it, we got it."

Hawkins said the Jaycees believe current economic troubles may cause visitors to stay closer to home to have fun, and that means they will head for the square and the Mule Camp Market and skip a long, out-of-town trip.