Bayfest draws thousands with sales, food and cars

As thousands sauntered down Pine Avenue, between the white vendor tents many stopped and noticed some other unique items on display at a garage sale.

Anne Lathrop and Erik Pedersen are the garage sale people. They have opened their driveway and garage door to Bayfest visitors for about 10 years. They are the only garage sale on the closed-off Pine Avenue for the daylong annual island festival.

Most of the things in the sale, Lathrop said, are Pedersen’s that he hasn’t been able to part with yet after he moved to Anna Maria Island.

Pedersen has long been a collector of antiques and other interesting items, Lathrop explained. It has just been in the last few years that he’s been setting them out for sale during Bayfest.

Lathrop herself has mixed feelings about holding the yard sale. It started when she and a colleague wanted to sell some jewelry. Then Pedersen asked to set a few things out with them. The rest is history.

But she said she hopes the other vendors don’t mind. Some, she noted, have asked to be next to her, but she still fears some resentment from the artists.

Customers, however, love the idea. Lathrop said she has customers come back year after year. Even in a few moments, more than a dozen people walked through to glance over some of items for sale.

Everything from furniture to bread-makers, books, tea sets and beer taps could be found spread in the Pine Avenue driveway. But Lathrop and Pedersen’s favorite items have always been the antiques, such as an old typewriter and a traffic light for a train.

But with so many things, it’s a long day outside during Bayfest helping customers.

“My goal is to sell everything so I can enjoy Bayfest,” Lathrop said, laughing.

It all pays off in the long run. Not only are they making room in the garage so maybe, one day, Pedersen can park his car there; but they’re also making new friends.

“The thing we like best is talking to people. It’s hard work, but that’s what makes it worth it,” Lathrop said.

Further down the street, past dozens of vendors’ tents selling everything from jewelry to decorations, the smell of food drew people closer to the music stage.

Visitors, some with sand still fresh on their feet, walked between food and vendor tents carrying their plates and coconuts filled with drinks. Some stopped to listen to the live bands who entertained visitors to the 17th annual Bayfest.

Dark clouds that passed over the festival didn’t stop those below from enjoying all the bustling street had to offer, including inflatable bounce houses for children.

Saturday was full of first-timers for Bayfest. Pam Ross, who lives in Bradenton, was one of many who spoke to the Herald on Saturday afternoon.

Ross said she came by to see how the shops and restaurants in the area were recovering after Hurricane Irma and was surprised to see how many vendors were there.

Lukas Mabry, Dustin Ramsey and Alan Saunders, who all recently moved to Bradenton from Ohio, said they spent a few hours at their first Bayfest.

“It was cool,” they said, collectively, adding it was what they expected — beer, food and people.

But not everyone was new to the Bayfest scene.

Sitting in a lawn chair with a cooler talking to a young couple, three-year Bayfest car show veteran Bob McLaughlin shared the story of his Pontiac, modeled to mirror the one in “The Rockford Files.”

It was his friend’s car, but when he passed away, McLaughlin inherited it. He knew he had to finish his friend’s dream of recreating the car from the 1970s television show.

It took three years, but he did it. And for the last three years, he’s been bringing the car to Bayfest to show off the finished product.

“It sparks a memory from their childhood,” McLaughlin said of those who stop to admire the car he’s named Kinsley. “I get a kick out of them getting a kick out of it.”

McLaughlin has been coming to Bayfest since before he finished the car and said the event and the car show are only getting bigger and better.

This story was originally published October 21, 2017 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Bayfest draws thousands with sales, food and cars."