A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit the flea market Mecca of the south – the First Monday Trade Days in Canton, Texas. Canton is one of those places I’ve always heard about but never actually visited myself.
When people found out that I was going to Canton they would ask, “Have you ever been?”
“Never,” I’d say.
“Well, you won’t believe how much stuff there is!”
My mind struggled to concoct images of what this place could possibly look like. Inside or outside? Booths or tents? Junk or fine antiques? Tacky or high class? Lol. My head was swirling with ideas.
Turns out, all of my ideas were right. Acres and acres of every kind of ware you could imagine. Outside and inside. Old stuff and new stuff. Tacky and high class! There’s definitely something for everyone at Canton. Even the men – vendors were shoving samples of hot soup and homemade jelly at you at every turn. What man wouldn’t love that?
I think it’s only fair to go ahead and tell you what kind of trip this was: a girl trip – me, Lucy, my sis-in-law Angel, and her two daughters. We loaded up in my Yukon and headed west! Now that doesn’t sound too crazy until I tell you that we pulled a trailer behind us! And that may not sound too crazy to you unless you knew that I’ve never really pulled a trailer before in my life! Can you believe our husbands sent us off to Canton with cash, credit cards, and an empty trailer?? Now, that’s what I call trust!
I took my big camera along to document all the crazy fun I knew we’d have, but I never even got the sucker out of the bag. So what few pictures I do have, I took with my phone, and I apologize for the substandard quality.
On our first day of shopping, to say that we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off wouldn’t be far from the truth. To us, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to how the place was laid out. We got turned around so many times we lost count, but that just added to the fun.
Angel had the fabulous idea to bring along a wagon to tow the little girls in. Unfortunately, after we’d been out shopping for only 15 minutes, Lucy got a fever, climbed over into her own stroller and went to sleep for the next 5 hours!
When the poor thing woke up, she was starving and asked for a corn dog. Boy, did she ever get a corn dog! It was at least a foot long. And she ate every last inch of it.
You might have gathered from the pictures that it was a little cool outside. Even though we spent most of the day “indoors” it was not climate controlled, but we bundled the girls in coats and blankets, and I stuck a couple of hand warmers in my pockets. A little thing like cold weather wasn’t going to stop the shopping. By the afternoon things warmed up to 65 degrees, so it turned out quite nice.
Who knew I’d meet The Most Interesting Man in the World! I don’t always go to Canton, but when I do, I spend all the Tool Man’s money. Lol.
Ahhh, Faith. Shopping is not her forte, but she was a good sport while the big girls browsed around. She perked up considerably after chowing down on a humungous funnel cake. Yummy. And how do y’all like her snazzy sunglasses? Faith quickly learned that making puppy dog eyes can land you a steal of a deal. One vendor even gave her something totally free.
The girls were super excited when they found out there was an indoor, heated pool at our hotel. Of course, we hadn’t packed any swim suits, but that’s nothing a quick trip to Wal-Mart couldn’t fix.
I’ll leave you with a few pics of some items we saw while shopping.
Well, that was fun! Angel found several great furniture pieces to fill some voids in her new home. I picked up a couple of little things, but my pocket book couldn’t afford any big purchases this time. It didn’t take Angel and I long to decide that we want to make this a semi-annual tradition. It’s just too much fun not to go back a couple of times a year!
Lindsey
