Mathews Market Days will be held this Friday and Saturday in and around the historic court green between Church Street and Brickbat Road in Mathews. It returns for the first time since 2019; the festival was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, with Brickbat Road and Court Street closed to through traffic from noon today through noon Sunday. All county offices will close at noon on Friday to accommodate setting up for the festival except for the offices of the clerks of District and Circuit Court.
Arts and craft booths, food booths, and informational vendors will fill the court green and surrounding streets both days, offering a wide variety of handmade items and foods to purchase, along with a wealth of information about local organizations.
A children’s area will include an inflatable bounce house, slide, and pirate ship, with admission by individual ticket or a $10 all-day access wristband. Outbreak! The Mobile Escape Room will be on hand for all ages for $5 per person. There will also be free pony rides and photographs from 2-5 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
A car show will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Thomas Hunter Middle School. Admission is free for spectators. The cost for car entry is $10; proceeds will benefit Mathews First Responders.
Entertainment
The longtime Market Days tradition of a street dance for all ages will return to the festival this year, featuring music by the popular southern country and rock band Rip Tide. The dance will be held from 6-9 p.m. Saturday, closing out the two-day event.
But that’s only after two full days of entertainment, starting with welcome remarks at 9 a.m. Friday on the main stage at the Put-In Creek Pavilion. This will be followed by music by gospel singer James Redmond at 9:30 a.m., acoustic jam/rock musician Kevin Bleakley at 10:30 a.m., vocal student Reynolds Powell at 1:30 p.m., the Court House Players with a piece from the musical “Matilda” at 2 p.m., and the duo Request Station at 3 p.m.
Saturday’s lineup begins once again with welcome remarks at 9 a.m., with the Mathews High School band performing the National Anthem as MHS cheerleaders raise the flags. Cheerleaders will then give a short performance.
The pet parade will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Performers for the day are vocal student Hannah Symonds at 10:15 a.m., Mathews Dance Studio at 11 a.m., The Crew: Michael Cunningham + Friends at 11:45 a.m., and youth talent Heather Mac-kenzie at 1:30 p.m.
Final performers for the day are youth talent Hunter Owens at 3 p.m., the Court House Players with a piece from “Matilda” the musical at 3:30 p.m. and youth talent Shane Norris at 4 p.m.
Market Days poster
Jordan Hunley of Cobbs Creek, the winner of the annual Mathews Market Days Poster Contest, will on hand to sign prints of her entry from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
The painting, which was unveiled on Aug. 27, features a Chesapeake Bay deadrise named after the contest theme, “Rise with the Tide,” as it heads toward New Point Comfort Lighthouse under a colorful early morning sky with birds flying overhead. Floating in the water and lying on the shoreline are images of items that people often identify with Mathews—a painting, a jar of honey, a crab, a guitar, and a colorful quilt.
The posters are $35 each and will be available for purchase at the Mathews Market Days information booth at the corner of Church and Court streets.
Shuttle
Two free shuttle buses will be available at approximately 15 minute intervals all day Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pick-up will be at Mathews High School, with drop-off at the information booth on the festival grounds or at Thomas Hunter Middle School for the car show.
Bay Quilters
The local quilting guild Bay Quilters returns after a two-year hiatus with an exhibit of its members’ quilted items. Deb Dawson said the exhibit will be staged in the John Warren Cooke room of Mathews Memorial Library, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Quilted items from beginning level to advanced will be included: quilts large and small, wall hangings, table runners, placemats, and wearables, as well as items made in the group’s outreach to the community mission.
Members will be on hand to answer questions, Dawson said.
Raffle
The Gwynn’s Island Civic League Foundation will be offering a special raffle prize—the use of the entire 8 bedroom/5 bathroom Hyco House event venue for a day and a night by arrangement with the facility’s owner. The prize, an $850 value, was donated by the owner. Tickets will be $5 each, three for $10, or seven for $20 and will be available at the GICL foundation booth. The drawing will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Party at the Wharf
Mathews Land Conservancy is holding its second Party at the Wharf this year on Friday, featuring food, live music, and dancing from 5-9 p.m. at Williams Wharf on the East River.
Admission is $5. Those attending will need cash for the beer and wine bar and food truck.
For more information, visit mathewslandconservancy.com or call 804-725-9685.
Historical society museums
Mathews County Historical Society will open its museums, the Tompkins Cottage and the Thomas James Store, for Mathews Market Days. Both will be open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Tompkins Cottage
Tompkins Cottage, a ca. 1820 structure located on Brickbat Road across from the Historic Courthouse Square, will be open for guided tours. On Friday and Saturday, the Fairfield Foundation will conduct a public archaeology dig and artifact washing session on the lawn. Both are open to all ages.
On Saturday, members of the Richard Henry Lee Chapter of the Virginia Society, Sons of the American Revolution, located in Irvington, will be on hand to share their mission of promoting patriotism and preserving American history.
Martha W. McCartney, an award-winning research historian, will sign copies of her books, “Mathews County, Virginia: Lost Landscapes, Untold Stories,” and “Kingston Parish Register: Mathews, Gloucester and Middlesex Counties, Virginia – Slave and Slaveholders, 1746-1827.” Other MCHS publications will be available for purchase, including “Mathews County Historic Homes and Properties, Volumes 1 through 4.” Ornaments and Capt. Sally Tompkins dolls also will be available.
Thomas T. Wiatt, a popular author, will be on hand to sell and sign copies of his numerous books, “Captain Sally: A Biography of Capt. Sally Tompkins, America’s First Female Army Officer”; “Lawyer Walker: A Biography of Thomas Calhoun Walker”; “Alleged Pirate: The Legend of Capt. John Sinclair of Smithfield and Gloucester County, Virginia”; “Rev. William E. Wiatt: The Life and Times of a Confederate Chaplain” and related family stories, “The Stonewall: The true story of a ship without a port, Gringos: A History of U.S. Citizens in Latin America.”
Thomas James Store
Thomas James Store, was built prior to 1820. It is one of the oldest and best preserved early nineteenth century retail establishments in the South.
The store is located behind Mathews Visitor and Information Center and will be open to the public for self-guided tours during Mathews Market Days.
For more information call MCHS president Reed Lawson at 804-725-3375, or visit www.mathewsscountyhistoricalsociety.org.
