Second annual Hamilton Holiday Market brings joy to community
Maggi Jo'Ani Boutique hosted a holiday market to bring holiday cheer to the unincorporated community of Hamilton.
HAMILTON, Miss. (WCBI) – Over a dozen vendors, food trucks, mini golf, and a place for kids to take pictures with Santa was available at the second annual Hamilton Holiday Market.
The host of the event, Maggi Jo’Ani Boutique, Pottery, and Cup of JOE, has held a Christmas Open House for six years, but starting just last year, they expanded it into a holiday market.
The owner of the boutique, Emily Kennedy, said that putting on events like this is important for unincorporated communities like Hamilton.
“We’re in a town that’s unincorporated. We don’t have a city council,” Kennedy said. “We don’t have a mayor. We don’t have people that are the driving force in leadership. So sometimes I feel like as a business owner, I got to make this happen. You know what I’m saying? Because our kids need it. Our community needs it. My kids need it.”
Rylee Wilson, a vendor at the event, said she likes that Hamilton has this kind of event.
“Hamilton’s such a small community,” Wilson said. “So I like that we have something like this.”
Madison Nevins, a vendor at the event, said it’s nice to have things like this in a small town.
“I mean, it’s really nice,” Nevins said. “Because we’re like such a small town just to see everyone just come out and everything.”
Kennedy said that seeing the local kids have fun makes her happy.
“It’s wonderful to see the joy that they’re having and it’s right here, you don’t have to go anywhere,” Kennedy said. “When I walk out there and I see them chasing the Grinch around, or if I see them eating cotton candy, or sipping on lemonade it warms my heart.”
Nevins said it’s great to see kids have fun at the event.
“It’s cute to see, especially the Grinch coming out and like messing around with them,” Nevins said. “It’s really fun, I love to see it.”
Kennedy said Hamilton has a year-round small-town Christmas vibe.
“Community’s family because I know all the kids, I know their parents, It’s wonderful,” “It’s like home. It’s that small-town Christmas feel, you know? But I feel that every day because it’s an everyday feeling for us here in Hamilton. Because like I said, we are who we have and that’s each other.”
The most recent US census data puts Hamilton’s population under 1,000 people.
