Spring Hope's Potters' Market Already Does What the Depot Is Being Built to Do

By noon on Saturday, November 12, 2022, downtown Spring Hope's streets were full of people looking and buying. In a report from Mayor Kyle Pritchard, about 40 potters had set out their work early that morning. Local stores and restaurants reported record days for foot traffic and sales, and potters said buyers came from the area, from Raleigh, and from as far off as Virginia and Manteo.

That was the first Dan Finch Potters' Market held downtown. The fifth one is this Saturday, November 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Since that first one, the Town of Spring Hope has been turning its historic depot into an event center, a permanent home for the kind of crowds the market brings for a single day each fall. The market keeps showing that downtown can fill up. This year it comes as the depot contractor works to finish by the end of the year, so this may be the last holiday season downtown runs on its streets alone.

A nursery sale outside Bailey became a downtown Saturday

The market began well outside town. The Enterprise reported that Dan Finch, a world-renowned master potter, opened a studio in 1980 at the Dan Finch Nursery outside Bailey. For more than 20 years the nursery held a yearly market where Finch and the potters who worked with him sold their pieces.

In 2022 that market moved from the studio and blueberry nursery to downtown Spring Hope. The Dan Finch Pottery Studio co-hosted the first downtown edition with the Chamber of Commerce. The mayor's account of that day is still the clearest record of what the move did for downtown:

"By noon, the streets of Downtown were full of onlookers and shoppers. Local stores and restaurants reported record days for foot traffic and sales."

A crafts sale that used to happen out in the country now brings shoppers onto the blocks where Spring Hope's storefronts are, and the storefronts benefit too.

Five Novembers on Main and Railroad

The market has kept a steady spot on the calendar, always on a Saturday in the second week of November, and in recent years it has kept roughly the same hours.

The 2023 edition is the best documented, and it shows how much of Finch's studio still travels into town. Ahead of that market, The Enterprise visited the Finch Nursery and photographed Fred Newman throwing dog bowls on October 19, Richard "Dick" Stenta starting a porcelain project in the studio, and Gary Phipps working next to a photo of Finch. Plates were lined up waiting for glaze. The paper said the market would carry pieces from Finch's 38 pottery family members and about 200 pieces of his own work.

On market day, the paper's photos showed what the street looked like:

• A bluegrass band playing as people browsed the tents
• Food trucks and vendors, including Francheskia Battle of Rocky Mount's Battleshack grilling corn
• Cordiform Coffee owner Payton Glover making coffee for customers
• A Dan Finch tent selling the late potter's own work
• Bowls, mugs, plates, gifts and sculpture, both functional and decorative

The next year, the Nashville Graphic's coverage named Mary Ann Barwick of Calypso as a member of the Finch pottery group. In 2025, the Graphic's market coverage showed a downtown block lined with tents.

The building the market has been working around

All five markets have taken place in a downtown whose largest planned event space is still under construction. According to the Town of Spring Hope's downtown page, NC Commerce awarded the town an $800,000 Rural Transformation Grant in 2023 to restore the Spring Hope Depot and convert it into an event center. In 2024 the town received a separate $537,500 Rural Downtown Economic Development Grant to design and build a multi-use platform next to the depot. The town's plan is to build both projects at the same time, and it lists the renovated depot as slated to open in 2026.

Together that is more than $1.3 million in state grants for a venue meant to host events. The Potters' Market has run on tents and closed-off streets, so it shows how many people come when there is a reason to.

The fall has been tight for the project. Here is the order of events, as reported in local coverage:

1. 2023: The town receives the $800,000 grant for the depot event center.
2. 2024: The town receives the $537,500 grant for the platform next to the depot.
3. September 8, 2026: After a closed session, commissioners vote unanimously to send a default letter to the performance surety bond company over an alleged breach of contract. The Nashville Graphic reported that Town Manager Jonathan Allen told the paper, "This is a process and a first step. It does not mean that the contract is null or voided at this time."
4. October 5, 2026: Allen updates commissioners on the depot. The Graphic reported that work on the depot and on a newly acquired caboose was moving forward, with the depot contractor on a "short rope" to finish by an end-of-year deadline.
5. November 14, 2026: The fifth downtown Potters' Market.
6. December 11, 2026: Christmas in Spring Hope.

The caboose is the newest piece. The town now owns a historic depot and a rail car to go with it, and restoration work on both was underway as of the October update. When the event center opens, the town will have a permanent place to hold the kind of day the Potters' Market creates once a year.

Two downtown dates before the year-end deadline

The Spring Hope Chamber of Commerce is running both events left on this year's downtown calendar. The Graphic reported in mid-October that the Chamber was preparing for the Dan Finch Potter's Market on Saturday, November 14, and Christmas in Spring Hope on Friday, December 11.

Both fall before the depot's end-of-year deadline. Downtown will host both of them the same way it has hosted every recent market and holiday night. The next round of downtown events could be the first with an event center on Railroad Street.

Some practical notes for Saturday:

Hours. The market runs 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., per Carolina Country's event listing. The first downtown market was crowded by noon, so a morning visit gives you the most time with the tables.

Location. The 2025 market used the downtown area around Main and Railroad streets, and the 2024 listing gave 112 W. Railroad St. as its address.

Questions. In its 2025 notice, The Enterprise listed the Chamber's number for event information as 252-478-1919.

Holiday shopping. Past markets have offered mugs, plates, bowls, gifts and sculpture from potters connected to the Finch studio. A dog bowl thrown at the Finch Nursery is about as local a gift as Spring Hope has.

If the Pumpkin Festival weekend is how you mark early fall downtown, the Potters' Market is its November counterpart: one Saturday, a few streets, and the stores around them busier than usual. More on the town is on our Spring Hope neighborhood page.

At Foote Real Estate Group, we're keeping an eye on the depot as it works toward its deadline, because an event center on Railroad Street changes what a house within walking distance of downtown offers. If you own one and want to know how a busier downtown calendar could affect its value, start with a free home valuation and we'll go through the numbers with you.