SEAGROVE, N.C. – Months of controversy surrounding Seagrove’s competing pottery festivals ended Saturday with both festivals attracting long lines on the same day and at the same place.

For 26 years, the Seagrove Pottery Festival was the only one. The new one featured artists unhappy with the festival's direction. Several potters participated in both shows but many chose one or the other.

Jennie Lorette Keatts, an organizer of the Celebration of Seagrove Potters festival, said the festival was a long-standing tradition.

“It's really just a unification of the Seagrove potters being able to showcase their work together,” Keatts said.

The result of the split was two pottery festivals, each on the same day.

“It’s a traffic jam out there now, they don't know which way they're going because their arrows pointing in all different direction,” Phil Morgan, an organizer with the Seagrove Pottery Festival said.

Saturday, both festivals had long lines of people waiting to check out what was inside.

“People have been coming in all day long,” Keatts said.

Charlotte Wooten said she has always had a booth at the Seagrove Pottery Festival. But this year, shoppers found her work at the Celebration of Seagrove Potters festival.

“I've always had a good time at this festival, but when the new group started, I wanted to support them too,” Wooten, owner of Humble Mille Pottery, said.

Wooten is just one of many who decided to support both festivals.

“I think it's better for all of the customers, they've got so much more to do in one day,” Wooten said. “I think that's wonderful. I can see it being very positive for everybody.”

And for the pottery lovers who traveled to shop for that perfect piece, they saw two festivals as good thing.

“You know, being crowded into one place is going to put a strain on everybody who does come in and visit,” Brad Gates, a shopper from Lincolnton said. “And since we drove such a long way, two and a half hours to come and see it, it's good that it's more spread out. It gives more of a chance to view everything and see all of the potters.”

Organizers for the Celebration of Seagrove Potters festival said they were happy with the outcome of their first show. They said they plan to make the show a yearly event on the same weekend as the Seagrove Pottery Festival.