Booths along Water Avenue did brisk business Saturday as the rains held off for Riverfront Market Day.

Hundreds of tourists and locals mingled among multicolored tents that served as booths with buyers and sellers seeming pleased with their transactions.

Jerry and Cynthia Hines came in from Miami to see Alabama.

“We were checking out the historical sites,” said Jerry, “we passed by, and we saw the festival.”

Cynthia added that the historical aspect of Selma drew them in, but the festival helped them linger longer.

“The outside atmosphere is really nice,” she said. “It’s history, and then you have a lot of things going on like arts and crafts and paintings.”

Early organizers of the event created it to draw attention to the history of Selma and to promote downtown revitalization.

But for others, such as Cary Haney and Rachael Allbritten, both Alabama natives, Riverfront Market Day is a homecoming. Both live in Washington, D.C., where they met.

“We came down here for the Tale Tellin’ Festival,” said Haney. “We stayed at the St. James last night, and it was fantastic, a lovely place. We also went to the Voting Rights Museum down the street.”