By William M. Hendryx
As school kids, those two words produced giddy anticipation. The ‘where’ was unimportant. It was the adventure that counted. An adventure beyond the ho-hum. A day of exploring, of goofing off. No tests, no homework, no books. It was—in my view—like a great treasure hunt.
Well, if that sounds a little familiar, and if you like the idea of field trips and treasure hunts, prepare yourself for a doozy. First Monday Trade Days, set on the outskirts of Canton, TX, just might be the best of both worlds.
With more than 3,000 vendors spread over 500 acres, this field trip promises a treasure hunt without parallel. But one thing is certain: If you try to see it all in just one day, your tongue will be dragging the ground. The good news: That doesn’t have to happen, because this extravaganza of a flea market takes place over four days, Thursday-Sunday, prior to the first Monday of every month.
That’s right, once a month, for four full days, this sleepy town of 5000, set on the edge of some scenic riding in the Piney Woods region of East Texas, turns into a bustling metropolis of up to 450,000, often punctuated with the line, “Will you take a dollar less?”
Whatever you want, need, or don’t need, you’ll find it here—from genuine antiques and authentic keepsakes, to the cutest of kitsch and a replacement hubcap for a ’58 Studebaker. You’ll find jeans, jewelry, hats, a blacksmith, cactus art, flowering plant life, fresh produce and linens. You’ll find old books, old signs, old furniture and old junk. There’s corny dogs, hot dogs, burgers, sausage on a stick, homemade ice cream and fried Oreos. For the purist, there’s a massive open-air vendor area. For the faint of heart, there’s an indoor, air-conditioned building the size of a small mall. For those in between, there are a number of covered, open-air pavilions. Best of all, the price of admission for this veritable feast of activity and incomparable people-watching is (drum roll, please)—absolutely free.
The whole thing started quite by accident more than 150 years ago when the circuit judge made his monthly pilgrimage to Canton, seat of Van Zandt County, on the first Monday of each month. As crowds gathered for their ‘day in court’, some enterprising folks began a swap meet on the courthouse lawn—offering things they didn’t need in hopes of trading for things they did. In those days, the most common of those ‘things’ were mules, or a gun, or a dog, or a couple of pigs.
Today, those things are still available in a separate area of the flea market affectionately known as Dog Alley. But the primary attraction is the seemingly endless sea of the other stuff. For the vendors, it’s the stuff that dreams are made of. For you, it just may be the stuff you can’t live without.
Next time First Monday rolls around, hop on your bike, take a field trip through picturesque East Texas, and stop by Canton. Your treasure hunt awaits.
Happy trails.
GO
You could blast eastward to Canton from DFW on IH 20, but why not mosey across on some of the back roads? These back roads lead to Canton from the different directions of the major cities in the area: TX 19, FM 198 and FM 243.
