I'm in deep southern Mississippi (Meridian) and tomorrow is "First Saturday."

[DemoTex]

Anybody know what "First Saturday" is/was? Faulkner described it in Go Down, Moses and The Reviers, and I actually witnessed it as a very young lad. "First Saturday" was (is?) when the country folk (mostly African American, but with some white share-croppers in this part of the South, too) came to town.

I remember as a child seeing it in Greensboro, Alabama. The sidewalks were packed, mostly with black folks. There were mules pulling wagons, kids riding mules, and many in cars too. We - four kids then - asked our parents if it was a parade. No, they said, it is "First Saturday," which is much bigger than a parade. We were totally intrigued.

I had forgotten about it until today. I am reading Faulkner, yet again, and that - along with my travel itinerary through Demopolis and Selma tomorrow (not to mention signs for "First Monday" along I-20 near Canton, Texas) jarred my memory back to 1954 in this same area of a very different - and not-so-different - part of the South.

Actually, I think "First Saturday" was much more a harvest thing - after the crops came in - because that's when people had some cash and were ready to spend before winter's fallow. But if I remember it as a kid, it was from summer vacation days (Mom a teacher and Dad a college prof).

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear DemoTex...

I don't know why, but your memory strikes me as so poignant...

I've never heard of it before, but I haven't read Faulkner, and have not traveled much in the South...

Thank you for posting this.

Recommended.

[femrap]

2. I k and r'ed as well.....

what a great vision in my imagination. I sometimes long for simpler times when we could harvest food and take care of ourselves without corporations.

I have always been afraid to go to TX, MS, AL because of my big mouth....figured I end up in jail.

[DemoTex]

4. I survive with a "DemocraticUnderground" sticker on my Prius.

It ain't THAT bad!

:hi:

[femrap]

5. You haven't heard my

mouth......:rofl:

Are you in Austin?

I've always wanted to visit that city.

[DemoTex]

6. I'm totally out of Texas, but Austin IS the place to start.

I have/had a lot of friends in Austin. Molly Ivins was one. Ann Richards was another. Hell, I even know Kay Bailey Hutchison well enough to call her Kay. I used to work for Ken Lay. I had George W. Bush on my JetStar-II jump-seat in 1981 or so, and the second damn president of the Republic of Texas was my great-great uncle, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar - of whom I am the spitting image - NOT!

[DemoTex]

3. Had my meeting with my B/P doc in Dallas this morning at 8AM

I hit the road back east at 9:30AM, immediately after my exam. I got to Meridian, 498 miles from Dallas (almost exactly halfway). I did about 450 miles of that on one tank of gas (<10gals) in my Prius, averaging 52.8 MPG on the display!

All is well, as far as I know. I told Doc W. that the bad/excessive funeral food and drink and ultra-bad road-trip food would skew the liver-function and cholesterol titers in the lab work. He was not amused.

:hi:

[KT2000]

7. Taking on a Faulkner book

myself - The Sound and the Fury. It is an experience.