While people from all over Lincoln and the surrounding countiesare gearing up for a weekend of relaxation and good times at nextweekend’s 34th annual Ole Brook Festival, Brookhaven’s downtownbusinesses are getting ready for sweat, toil and big-timerevenue.

Downtown business owners say the Ole Brook weekend istraditionally one of the strongest weekends of the year. Severalshops are preparing to open early and stay late to take advantageof the coming influx of Southwest Mississippi’s fun-loving shoppers- likely more than 7,000 of them.

“All indications are that this will be the biggest festivalyet,” said Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce ExecutiveVice President Cliff Brumfield. “It’s an excellent opportunity forour downtown merchants – it will be bringing some 6,000 to 8,000shoppers right in front of their stores.”

Janie Stogner, owner of Janie’s Bakery on Whitworth Avenue,knows exactly what to do. She has been reaping the financialbenefits of Ole Brook for years, last year being one of herstrongest selling performances yet.

“We did wonderful last year,” Stogner said. “We do good everyyear that it’s festival time. People are in here all day long, andI’m grateful for that. We probably had 1,000 people come throughthese doors, maybe more than that.”

During last year’s festival, Stogner said her store sold exactly702 chickens on a stick – her main seller during Ole Brook – at$3.89 each. That’s more than $2,700 for that item alone, notcounting the bakery’s plethora of cakes, pies and other fooditems.

Stogner said the bakery runs two, sometimes three fires, in thekitchen to meet the Ole Brook demand. And festival day requiressometimes triple the amount of supplies needed on a regularbusiness day.

Janie’s Bakery will open at 5:30 a.m. Saturday and remain openuntil around 5 p.m., Stogner said – if the store’s trafficdecreases enough to allow a prompt shutdown. She brings in herwhole staff on festival day, she said, and everyone wracks up onovertime.

“Compared to a regular day, we probably do twice as muchbusiness,” Stogner said. “What you make that Saturday at a festivalusually takes a couple of days to make.”

Just Kiddin’ owners Joe and Christie Fleming were not around forlast year’s Ole Brook, but the toy store proprietors have learnedthe benefits of downtown activity throughout the year by openingthe store up for events such as June Tunes in the Park, the SpringGardening Extravaganza and the Brookhaven Art Walk.

“Every day you open your store up, you don’t know what you’regoing to do one day to the next – but when the festivals aredowntown, you always do good business,” Joe Fleming said. “I’mwaiting for it – please get here!”

Fleming said he expects the Ole Brook Festival to bring JustKiddin’ out of the summer slump. The toy store prospers fromChristmas shoppers, he said, and except for a few birthdays hereand there throughout the hot months, business is tough.

Just Kiddin’ has an advantage for this year’s festival, as it isactually part of the show. The festival’s kids’ zone is not onlyset up right in front of the toy store, but is associated with it.The always-popular Veggie Tales mascot, which Brumfield andfestival organizers made an extra effort to re-sign for this year,will be in and out of Just Kiddin’ throughout Saturday.

Considering the festival’s family-friendly theme and likely highnumber of children that will attend, the toy store should have notrouble turning in a fine financial day. Fleming said a normal dayat Just Kiddin’ translates into $200 to $400, but the storegathered more than $2,000 over an eight-hour period during thesmaller Brookhaven Art Walk.

Fleming said the store will open earlier at about 8 a.m. and setup a sidewalk sale on Railroad Avenue.

There will also be plenty of sidewalk shopping in front of theLocker Room clothing store on Cherokee Street. Storeowner andAlderman at-large Les Bumgarner said his establishment’s sidewalksale is a moneymaking tradition when Ole Brook comes to town everySeptember.

“We put some our merchandise out there, throw out a couple ofracks and a couple of tables and usually do pretty well with it,”he said. “We’ll have specials outside and run specials throughoutthe store. Brookhaven people like sidewalk sales – someone told methat years ago, I tried it and it worked. Must be something toit.”

Like other downtown businesses, Bumgarner said the festival isprobably the biggest weekend of the year for the Locker Room. Hesaid the foot traffic through the store is high, and the gatheringaround his outside tables is even better.

Bumgarner also uses the festival as a learning experience. Whileextra shoppers check out his merchandise, he investigates theopportunities brought downtown by the festival’s vendors aswell.

“We get out and visit and shop and check things out ourselves,”he said. “We’re trying to get as many things downtown as wecan.”