Food, games and clothing — the perfect recipe for an eclectic Saturday afternoon. Statesboro Vintage Market wrapped up its thrifting season at Nonna Picci on South Main Street this past weekend, and the crowd has grown each year.

At first sight, one quickly observes this is a space where traders from far and wide gather to exchange items from apparel to stickers and pins. 

"I just want to scale this as big as possible, and I want everybody to know about it," said Johnny McFatten, founder of Statesboro Vintage Market, who says it's his love and passion for all things vintage that make him a connoisseur in the field. "People always ask, do I plan on branching out and stuff? Yes, I could, but for right now, I am just focused on taking care of Statesboro."

Nestled in the back of Nonna Picci, one is whisked into what seems to be a different world: a world of vintage thrifting. 

"I started on Depop and found out about these events on Instagram, and Statesboro Vintage Market posting about it, and I ended up coming here about a year ago," said Bryant Gilmore. "I've been doing these about once a month, and it really brings out a lot of people from the community."

After grabbing a quick drink, my wife and I made our way around to the various vendors in attendance. We stopped to talk with another enthusiastic curator by the name of Nick Renfro, who is based out of Savannah. 

"These events are massive for us," Renfro said. "It's not only a way for us to showcase what we have, but it's a way to just learn about the community and learn about how we make money, and that this is a serious way that we make our money. This is our job. 

"It's nice to come out here and get recognized and to get more appreciation for the community and show that the used secondhand community is important, especially to the fashion world." 

Ending my vintage experience, I stumbled across two unique vendors. One was the youngest and had the support of his mom, and the other specialized not only in apparel, but also had an exquisite collection of NASCAR stickers, cups and pins. 

Being the youngest vendor, Gavin Pate of RagHillVTG (vintage) has been participating in events like Statesboro Vintage Market for two years. 

"I eventually see myself opening a store soon," he said, "a store in my hometown, Atlanta." 

I purchased a piece from his collection, and before leaving, I acquired two stickers from Nathan Switzer of Natetiques, aka Thriftinate. 

"I've been doing this for about 10 years," Switzer said. "I've probably done over 200 shows. I started by loving antiques, doing clean outs, and finding barns full of stuff. I'm an '80s baby, so I know what's old and cool."

At the end of the visit, I spoke some more with the founder of Statesboro Vintage Market, Johnny McFatten. McFatten also is one of the owners of the Archive, a vintage apparel store on South Main Street. 

McFatten was working as a graduate assistant for the Georgia Southern basketball team, and while attending college, he said he found his love off the court in the fashion industry. 

"I just went up to my head coach after being a graduate assistant for a semester, and I just told him that this is something that I can't do," he said. "I love vintage, and this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. 

"My mom was mad at me. My family was mad, but like I say, I was doing three pop-ups a weekend and was paying my rent, and then the store came about." 

Brantley Simmons is a middle school teacher for Bulloch County Schools and a freelance contributor to the Statesboro Herald.