How Earl Clark Drive Became the Square Florence Uses Every Fall

On Saturday, Oct. 24, Florence Day comes back to Earl Clark Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This is its third straight year on that street. Two years ago the move was news. Ahead of that year's Oct. 26 event, The Florence News reported that the "much-anticipated annual Florence Day" had "one significant change," because it was moving to Earl Clark. The 2025 edition was billed as the second year on the street, so the move took place in 2024. Deputy Clerk Dana Vaughn called it the city's first "Florence Day Fall Market on the Square."

The name has held up. In 2026, the town's community events are gathering on one short downtown block, while most of its new restaurants are opening out on Highway 49 and Jackson Circle. Florence's daily errands and its shared Saturdays now happen in two different places, and Earl Clark Drive is where the shared Saturdays happen.

The Street Took a Second Event

Florence Day was the first event to move there. It didn't stay the only one.

The Florentine Evening Club held its Fourth Annual Pet Parade and Cow Paddy Plop on Earl Clark Drive on Sept. 26, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration cost $10 and opened at 9 a.m., and the parade started at 10 a.m. Prizes included biggest dog and smartest dog. The program packed a lot onto one block:

• A Blessing of the Pets
• A puppy playground and pup cups
• A K-9 handler demonstration
• Animal rescue groups, raffles and a photo booth
• Food trucks, dessert snow cone trucks and music
• The annual Cow Patty Plop Contest, hosted by the Our Neck of the Woods 4-H Club

WLBT's preview on Sept. 23 gave the same schedule on the same street. Not every Florence event needs that block. The board approved Discovery Christian School's homecoming parade for Sept. 25 on Highway 469, from Victory Church to Wesley Circle. In August, the Get Fit Florence 5K from Performance Therapy kept the route it had used in earlier years. Still, the two all-ages, all-morning community events on this fall's calendar both chose Earl Clark Drive, and they were held four weeks apart.

What Is Actually on the Block

Florence Day turns a working street into a market for a day. Copiah Bank's Florence branch is at 150 Earl Clark Drive. Florence Dental Clinic is at 129 Earl Clark Drive. Around the corner, Florence Public Library sits at 115 West Main Street. A November 2025 Clarion Ledger permit roundup listed Posh, a mobile food unit, with its base at 147 West Main Street.

That mix explains why the street works for events. It is a bank, a dental office and civic buildings, not a row of restaurants, so the block fills up only when a festival brings in food trucks. Parking also shows how the event is planned. Every recent year, organizers have sent attendees to the Florence Middle School lot instead of the street itself.

What Florence Day Looks Like Up Close

The format has stayed steady across the street's first two years. Admission is free, and the day includes a market, food trucks, vendors and inflatables for kids. In 2024, inflatable tickets cost a small fee that went to a local school group as a fundraiser.

The music is local:

Fisher Hester is the one act that appears in both of the last two years. The city has the 2026 vendor application up but hasn't posted performers yet. A Clarion Ledger fall roundup from Sept. 21 describes this year's event as shopping, local vendor booths and community displays on Earl Clark Drive.

In a report by SW Rankin News, Mayor Trey Gunn described the 2025 edition this way:

"It's the perfect chance to spend the day with friends and neighbors, celebrate our community, and showcase all the things that make Florence special."

The rules that shape the booths

What you find at the booths comes partly from the vendor terms. That same report quotes Becky Cleveland, who helped coordinate vendors, saying the previous year had drawn about fifty vendors and that organizers wanted that number to grow. The 2025 terms were:

1. Arts and crafts or business booths cost $75, or $115 for a double, and each space measured 10 feet wide by 12 feet deep.
2. Vendors brought their own tables, chairs, tents and extension cords. Generators were allowed only if muffled.
3. Setup ran from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, and no vehicles could stay in the booth area.
4. Business booths could hand out pens, magnets, key chains and similar items, but could not give away or sell any food, including bottled water. Only approved food vendors could sell food and drinks.

Rule four is the reason lunch on Florence Day comes from the food trucks. If you're thinking about a booth for 2026, the current terms are in the city's vendor application linked from the Florence Day page. The 2025 article listed the last day to reserve as two days before the event.

Where the New Food Is Going Instead

While events gather downtown, new restaurants are opening along the commercial roads. Crawfish Shack of Florence received its state permit on March 17, 2026, at 2875 Highway 49 South, and the Mississippi State Department of Health record now lists it as open. Deep South Cafe & Gifts lists its Florence location at 3091 Highway 49 South, Suite L.

An Aug. 13 Clarion Ledger report named Rankin Rowdy's as a new full-service restaurant approved for 15 Jackson Circle, with dine-in, takeout and delivery planned. The report didn't confirm an opening date. The road out front was already getting work. In May, the board awarded AJ Construction a $142,217.50 contract to mill and pave Shadow Creek Drive and Village Villa Circle and to pave Jackson Circle, under an interlocal agreement with Rankin County.

None of these places is on Earl Clark Drive. That split is the pattern this fall. The highway gets new places to eat on any weeknight, and the downtown block gets the Saturdays the whole town shows up for.

The Rest of the Season Runs on Saturdays

After Florence Day, the city's calendar falls on Saturdays too, and every date leans on the same few landmarks:

• Saturday, Nov. 7, 8 a.m.: A Veterans Breakfast at Quest Community Church, free to all.
• Saturday, Dec. 5, 6:30 p.m.: The Christmas parade, starting at Florence Middle School, which is also the lot Florence Day uses for parking. The city says the parade application will be available soon.

The city's other regular gathering spot is Hemphill Park, beside the Florence Community Center at 437 South Church Street. This year's Easter Egg Hunt was held there on Thursday, April 2. Event approvals go through the Board of Aldermen, which holds a 5:30 p.m. work session and a 6:30 p.m. meeting at City Hall on the first and third Tuesday of each month. Both are open to the public.

The Next Shared Space Starts as a Footbridge

Downtown has its gathering place. The next public space on the east side of town began with a student proposal. On March 7, 2023, two members of the Florence High School HOSA Community Awareness Team asked the city board for a pedestrian bridge connecting the school to the Butler Creek, Roxbury and Copper Ridge subdivisions. Their survey found nearly sixty students living in those neighborhoods. Eighteen rode the bus, and an average of eleven walked home each day. By 2026, city officials put the number of students walking home at about twenty-two.

On Feb. 17, 2026, the Mississippi Transportation Commission approved $603,000 for a walking bridge and sidewalk across the creek along Williams Road. The project is expected to take a couple of years. According to SW Rankin News, HOSA advisor Kira Berch said the bridge will eventually tie into the existing bike trail along Eagle Post Road and connect to a future park planned at Williams Road and East Eagle Post Road. Officials expect more people to use the route as Waverly subdivision builds out. In September, the board approved the final plat for Waverly Phase 2, subject to MDEQ and Board of Health approvals.

Until that park opens, Florence's biggest shared Saturday this fall happens on Earl Clark Drive. Doors open at 10 a.m. on Oct. 24, and parking is at Florence Middle School.

At Marketplace Real Estate, we keep track of where Florence gathers because those places make up daily life here. If you live in Florence and wonder how the town's changes affect your property, whether that's new subdivision phases or a planned park off Eagle Post Road, start with a free home valuation, or browse our Florence neighborhood guide when you're ready to talk.