Visitors and vendors from all over the South squeezed into thesunny streets of Wesson Saturday for the 37th annual Wesson FleaMarket.

Wesson officials said attendance for the event was hard to call,but that it was definitely a good crowd. Proceeds from the fleamarket go to the Wesson Volunteer Fire Department.

“We’re close to maximum capacity,” said Wesson VFD Chief DustinBrewer. “We couldn’t handle much more if we’re not.”

Sherra Jackson, who came to Wesson from Kenner, La., with hertwo teenage daughters, said she hadn’t expected to see such acrowd.

“I had heard this was a good flea market to go to, but I didn’tthink a little town like Wesson would be this crowded,” shesaid.

Brewer said many of the vendors had traveled from neighboringstates as well.

“I know we have several here from Alabama, and I think some havecome from as far away as Florida,” he said. “We’ve got some fromLouisiana and Arkansas, too.”

And the vendor booths ran the gamut of products, with everythingfrom hair bows to wooden chairs to “spitting lizards” – little foamlizard puppets that spit water when a rubber bulb in the handle isfilled and squeezed.

“We came because it’s not far to go, and just to get a day out,”said Anna Davis, of Monticello, who came to the market with her3-year-old daughter Kodi. “We’ve looked at T-shirts and purses, andof course we had to get a spitting lizard.”

And some people were there to shop and sell, like Paul andDeborah Barnes of Wesson. The couple carried around a small, fluffypuppy named “Marshmallow.”

“If somebody wanted to buy her, we’d sell her,” said PaulBarnes.

Several vendors turned up at the last minute, Brewer said.

“Some people showed up at 9 asking if we had any extra spots, sowe actually sold a few this morning,” Brewer said.

Wesson Mayor Alton Shaw, who was escorting United States Sen.Roger Wicker as he mingled with the crowd, said he was also quitepleased with the turnout.

“This has been an excellent day,” he said.

And once the crowd clears each year, Brewer said, it’s up to thefire department and other volunteers to set the city back in order.Sometimes it takes well into the night.

“We’ll get all the barricades up and empty all the garbage cansand things,” he said. “By the time people get up for church, youwon’t even be able to tell anything was here.”