Fayetteville’s Dave Downey, a member of the Georgia Antique Engine Club, stood with one of his engines.
“It’s a 1925 two-horsepower, what they call ‘hit or miss,’” he said, describing the machine he had attached to his SUV. “Basically they did on the farm what electricity did now.”
He said before farms had electric power, they had two or three engines on hand to churn butter, grind corn, run machine shops and perform other tasks. When electric power became available to farms, the engines became obsolete.
Lynn Batchelor, of Wally Bee’s Honey in Newnan, stood beneath a tent overseeing a display of honey and honey products. This is her first time at the Mayfling.
“It’s local honey, raw honey,” she said. “We have beeswax and we make our lip balm also.”
She said her company has been in business for 12 years and has 60 hives. She said she and her husband were glad to come out to the event because it was close to home for them. She said business as of 11:20 a.m. was slow and hoped it would pick up. She said consuming local honey - “local” meaning produced anywhere in the Piedmont because the flowers are the same throughout the region - helps alleviate people’s allergies.
Caricature artist Dave Helwig is another first-time patron of the Mayfling.
“I found it on the Internet,” he said.
He described how he had drawn cartoons of people since he was a child.
“Basically, I looked at people and said, ‘I could mess that up.’”
He said the hobby sometimes got him into trouble at school.
Common Ground Ministry, which caters to Christian singles, returned to the Mayfling this year. Melody Ward, one of the participants, said they were selling baked goods in order to raise money for the group’s monthly activities such as movie nights, bingo, karaoke and preaching.
“It started out slow but’s picking up now,” she said when asked how business was going. “The crowd is starting to come in a little bit.”
Lynn Goodson, chairman of the Southern Crescent Chapter of the Georgia League of the South, also set up a tent at the Mayfling.
“We’re trying to disseminate some of our organization’s literature,” he said.
He said several people had come to the tent to talk and take some of the organization’s literature, including its tabloid “The Free Magnolia.”
Kelly Palmatier and her daughter Naomi manned a tent on behalf of Griffin Web Design.
“It’s a beautiful weekend and it’s always nice to get a little exposure, meet some of the arts and crafts vendors,” she said.
She said she has already gotten a few leads for future business.
Griffin Police Department Patrolman Walter Williams rode his bicycle down the crowded paths at the event.
“It’s been great, been wonderful,” he said. “Real peaceful, thus far.”
One of the event guests was K.C. Buff, who came with her son Brodie Presley.
“It’s nice out here,” she said. “They have really good funnel cake - that’s why I came.”
She said her son enjoyed the funnel cake too. Another high point for her was seeing several of her students there - she teaches pre-kindergarten at Childcare Network on Williamson Road.
Brittany Blake came to the Mayfling with her five children, who ranged in age from 10 months to seven years.
“Good,” she said when asked how the event was going. “It’s a good spring day to be out.”
She said she enjoyed seeing all the local people at the Mayfling.
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