Alton has been a market centre for the villages that surround it for many hundreds of years and these two pictures show the changes that have taken place in the last 100 years. For most of that period a weekly Tuesday market took place in the Market Place and on 14 December 1909 it was accompanied by a Christmas Fat Stock Show. Today the Tuesday market is held in the High Street and there is no longer any livestock for sale. Instead, the stalls sell fruit, vegetables, plants, clothes, and books. On various weekends during the year there are other events such as Farmers'' Markets which attract people from Alton and the surrounding villages.