Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Last September, I wrote to the 2013 Mathews Market Days Committee, asking two basic questions about that event. Although I received a reply to my letter, I did not receive an answer to my questions. I still have the same questions. I am sending the same letter now to the Gazette-Journal with hopes of starting a dialogue or finding some answers (I have slightly edited my original letter in an attempt to fit the newspaper’s length restrictions).

Dear Mathews Market Days Committee:

Congratulations on running a well-coordinated Market Days weekend without incident.

Looking back on the recently completed festival, I have two questions.

1. What is the “mission” (purpose/goal) of Market Days? It seems a majority of the vendors on the Court Green were not from Mathews. If Market Days is meant to be a showcase of Mathews talent and a tourist draw (“Come see what’s unique about our county”), these out-of-town vendors do not advanc...