Vendors Sell Antiques and Homemade Goods at What Cheer Flea Market

WHAT CHEER – The What Cheer Flea Market was held from August 1-4, drawing in large crowds and dozens of vendors. The News-Review took the time to speak with several vendors about their interesting wares.

Larry Smith, proprietor of Moonshine Larry’s Barbecue Sauce, sold bottles of homemade barbecue sauce, coming in elderberry, apple, peach, cherry, and whisky flavors. Smith has been making barbecue sauce for years and began selling it at craft shows two and a half years ago. “Three and a half years ago, I was involved in an auto accident,” said Smith. “And up until then, I’ve spent most of my life doing construction work and I messed my back up pretty good. My kids said, ‘Well, Dad, you know everybody comes here and buys your barbecue sauce, why don’t you go legal with it?’ It kinda pushed us to go in this direction.”

Danny Peters sold a collection of retro Coca-Cola merchandise, including old bottles, a small statue, and the side panels of a coke machine, one of which he had restored. “(Coke is) nostalgic. It’s been around forever...I’m a Pepsi drinker, but it’s Coca-Cola, you know what I mean? It was one of the first ones out there,” said Peters.

Blake Lefler sold antique advertising signs. He has been selling signs for 23 years, the last eight of which at the What Cheer Flea Market, and collecting for even longer. “This is all just stuff that I like, and it just happened to get popular later on,” said Lefler. “It wasn’t as popular when I first started doing it. In the late 90s when I first started doing it, it wasn’t as big of a deal. Then kinda of TV and stuff made it more popular and it’s kind of spiralled from there. It’s just stuff that I’ve always liked. I’ve always restored old cars. Started showing old cars as a kid. So you get into the car advertising or the parts and that kind of thing, and next thing you know you got so much of it that you’ve got to start selling or doing something with it. My collection is 70 times this. I mean, it’s buildings and houses full of it.”

Jim Ratliff sold metalwork out of his travelling forge, Rat-Iron Blacksmith. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, he fired up his furnass and made metal items in front of the crowd. Ratliff has been metalworking for 30 years and attending the What Cheer Flea Market for the last seven. He mostly makes camping gear, like tripods, log tongs, spatulas and steak turners. “I just thought it sounded like fun, so I tried it and I liked it,” said Ratliff, when asked why he got into blacksmithing.

Rodney Marshall of Phat Pharms sold homemade pickle-fat based sauces, including several hot sauces, one of which he said was the favorite of the Sigourney Fire Department. “My sister was cooking for some kind of benefit for the local firemen. I donated some (hot sauce) and then, I go to the farmer’s market every week, and firemen come and by more for home,” said Marshall.

He explained that Phat stands for Pretty Hot and Tasty, a name suggested by his son. Marshall worked for 27 years making soup, sauces and salad dressing in a restaurant. When the restaurant closed down during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Marshall used his stimulus check to open his sauce company.