Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Stained glass works by Floyd County artist Patricia Moses filters views Saturday of people walking along Salem's Main Street.

Salem's Main Street is crowded Saturday with an array of vendors along the sides and a crowd estimated at 60,000 people.

Kathy Klein's pet dog Baby Girl rides in a stroller. For additional photos of Olde Salem Days, go to www.sosalem.com.

Dogs got their heads rubbed and babies got their cheeks pinched as thousands of people descended on downtown Salem on Saturday for the annual arts-and-crafts festival known as "Olde Salem Days."

The 28-year-old street fair, organized by the Salem Jaycees, closed several blocks of Main Street to traffic so vendors could set up booths and pedestrians could look at knick-knacks. This year's fair was scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but the street already was packed by 9 a.m. Salemites are early risers.

There were key chains, doormats, handbags, furniture and hand-crafted wooden toy machine guns spilling from the white vendor tents lined up along the street.

You could buy honey, candy, candles, sandals and soaps. Also, Confederate collectibles and college-themed clocks, dried flowers and fried dough, painted eggshells and earthen pots, as well as paintings by P. Buckley Moss.

And that's not counting the pan pipe players (playing "Amazing Grace"), bookmarks, tablecloths, rocks that burn like candles, the moon bounce, "Your Name on Rice," and a few hippy stalls offering tie-dyed clothing. (Ladies' tank: $18.00. Credit cards accepted)

"That is cute, Momma," said a woman holding a wooden sign that read "Welcome to our camper." Nearby, a barker was pitching brooms for the Lions Club: "I'll sell you a right-handed broom or a left-handed broom."

"Salem doesn't have much, but we've got to support what it has," said Shelby Stokes, who said that she has been to every Olde Salem Days festival.

This year she was treating her dog, a miniature poodle named Toby Keith Covel Stokes, after the country singer. She had a Virginia Tech-themed dog coat, a Tech dish and a sign that said "This house is a Tech dog house."

Not far away, Cecil Sayers was taking a break and leaning against a fire hydrant as his wife and grandson shopped.

"I've bought a porch swing over the years, ceramics, stuff like that. Crafts, you know?" said the Pulaski resident who comes to the festival every year.

Of course it wouldn't be a proper Southwest Virginia street festival without a car show. And the antique Mustangs and Corvettes were in their usual spots, with their hoods propped up for inspection. This year, however, a white 1987 Toyota Tercel had somehow infiltrated the group of muscle cars.

"I have no problem with my car against these other cars," said owner Cale Boone. "To me it's still a classic car."

Boone said he bought the car two and a half months ago for $200. It has 57,000 miles on it. Runs great, he said. A sign on the Tercel's windshield offered it for sale. $5,000 OBO.

It also wouldn't be a proper Southwest Virginia street festival without a healthy smattering of politicians. U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, was there shaking hands, as were state Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt County, and House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, wearing a boater hat.

Joe McCain also stood nearby, greeting voters and looking like his famous brother, John (who is running for president, as you may have heard.)

The Democrats had a booth across the street, and young volunteers from both parties seemed to be engaged in a sticker duel, trying to hand out the most campaign stickers and literature. A rigorously unscientific survey concluded that the Republicans had out-stickered `the Democrats.

College students in red T-shirts that said "Kellie Pickler" also were handing out leaflets. You would be forgiven for mistaking Kellie Pickler for an obscure third-party candidate, but, in fact, she's a country singer, famous for being booted from the TV show "American Idol." The red-shirted activists were promoting a concert scheduled for Saturday night.

Rhudy Williams stood out among the Republicans. He wore a T-shirt with a picture of the late Ronald Reagan and the words: "Reagan is my homeboy."

Williams said he'd been a Republican since he was a child and Reagan was president. In college, he once catered a Republican Labor Day event in Buena Vista.

"They were very good tippers," he recalled.