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In the 1800s law and order were often administered by a traveling circuit court judge. This judge would travel from town to town to hear the court cases and would arrive in each town on the same day of the week each month. Usually, the day was Monday.
In a time when people didn't have televisions or radio, this became a form of entertainment. Local farmers and ranchers and people living in outlying areas would schedule their trips to town to coincide with these visits.
Because a trip to town was often an all day thing in those days, many people would come to town for the weekend, then stay over to watch the court proceedings and make a few bucks in the meantime.
In these modern times there is no longer a need for these traveling judges, but the custom of going to town on those weekends continues in many places.
One of those towns is Canton, Texas, where this has evolved into a monthly meeting that has become one of the largest flea markets in the world.
Crafters and antique dealers, chain saw carvers and painting artists, discount store clearances, rugs and pottery from Mexico, antiques, new and used clothing, nuts and bolts, remnants of estate sales, and more all make their way to Canton, Texas on the first full weekend before the first Monday of the month from all over the country. Vendors and visitors travelling from as far away as Pennsylvania, New York and Minnesota to Arizona, Nevada and California attend this event to peddle their wares or come to see what they can buy.
No one is certain just when this tradition was started, but most agree its been going on for at least 150 years. The locals in this area would bring along horses and produce to sell while they were in town. In the earliest days, the market evolved around the sale of stray horses that were picked up on the open range. At that time the market was known as Horse Days. Later, in the 1930s, when the horse was phased out and replaced by tractors, local farmers turned to raising pigs.
They gained a reputation for raising very fine pigs that were free of cholera and buyers began coming from all around Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas to buy these pigs. For awhile the market was known as Pig Days.
Dogs were also a popular item to sell and soon surpassed the pigs. People always had a few strays or unwanted puppies. Soon breeders of hunting dogs took advantage of this and started bringing their hounds. These hunting hounds were very fine and soon the market became known to dog breeders throughout the Southwest as Dog Monday and owners of other breeds began to joined in.
By the 1950s the crowds had swollen to more than 5,000 and were becoming a nuisance, blocking the streets. Local residents began to rent out their front yards to accommodate these people. The market became known in the East as a great place to pick up antiques cheap.
By the 1960s this had become one of the largest flea markets in the world and had been featured in magazines like "Look," "Life," and "The Saturday Evening Post." In 1965 the City of Canton finally purchased a special six and a half acre lot to accommodate the flea market to try to control the congestion of traffic. A dog bit someone who then caught rabies, and dogs were banned from the official city market. A police force and dog catcher were added to the budget which the city could easily afford.
Today, on any given month there will be 5,000 to 7,000 vendors offering their wares, and during the biggest ones which occur in May and October, the number of sellers might swell to 15,000 families or more. Visitors from hundreds of miles around come to shop until they drop, and visit.
There are more than ten miles of trails through the Canton First Monday Trade Days grounds, and upwards of half a million visitors. The town of Canton boasts that they are the Largest Outdoor Flea Market in America. This festival goes on every month of the year, rain or shine, you will find plenty of vendors and lots of visitors.
This monthly fiesta supports half a dozen local motels, fast food restaurants, and half the town's economy. Taxes collected from sales at First Monday Trade Days likely outweigh the taxes collected from all other local stores combined in this small town of about 2,500. The vendors have outgrown the city trade days grounds and now rent the front lawns of residents or pay them to use their bathrooms.
In addition to the City of Canton's Trade Day Grounds and local residents' yards, about a dozen other markets have sprung up on private land all around the town varying from Wild Willie's Theme Park to Dog Town or Dog Alley as it is sometimes called. People have long forgotten the real name of this market where the merchandise featured is all live animals. Here you can purchase a pig or goat, an occasional llama, turkeys, chickens, and geese, maybe a donkey, a few rabbits, and of course, dogs, which is where it all started.
At Wild Willie's Market you can pan for gold or prospect for sapphires, find an anchor for a boat, or an antique fishing reel. There is carnival glass and beautifully restored antique furniture, or paint stripper and stain to refinish an old worn rocking chair on your own. Parking spots come at a premium all around the town and cost around $3.00.
There are many vendors who have made this a way of life. They travel from Trade Day to Trade Day, in a different town each week of the month to sell their wares.
On the weekend before the Second Monday of the month, you will find more action in Bowie and in Bonham, Texas.
The following week the excitement of Third Monday Trade Days continues in McKinney, Texas, a thirty mile drive from Canton. In this market you will find an old cemetery in the middle of the grounds. In May the North Texas Knife Show is held in conjunction with this Trade Days. There is also a wonderful natural science museum in McKinney called The Heard Museum.
On the weekend before the Fourth Monday, the gala takes place in Whitewright, Texas near Dallas and Fort Worth to round out the circuit. Then, you travel seventy miles back to Canton, to start the circuit again.
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