Now days, for anyone to say they are from Texas they need to clarified the statement by saying what part of Texas they are from. Texas, as some may not know, is a large piece of real estate sitting in the South Central portion of the Unities States. With any land mass this large there is naturally going to be some cultural differences amounts it population and Texas is no exceptions. More or less Texans are divided up into five basic regions; North, South, West, East and Central Texas. Each one of these regions has a different culture and look.
But, the purpose of this blog was not to provide you with a lesson in Texas Geography, which I know there are people here in Texas who say they are from Texas who could use a detailed lesson on where exactly they are from. Being a Native Texan, I am surely capable of doing that, but again, defining a Native Texan is also another blog.
In this blog I am writing about a phenomenon that takes each month which brings all of the regions of Texas together in one place and even cultures from other countries like Oklahoma and the rest of the world’s developing nations.
This phenomenon has been going on every month for 157 years. Yep, just after Texas became a state and 15 years after my Great-Great-Great-Grandfather came to Texas from Ireland, this little gathering started on the banks of the Caddo River in the middle of the Caddo Indian nation of Texas.
It is now known as the Canton First Monday Trades Day. Yes, if you are from Texas you should know about Canton 1st Monday and if you have never heard of it and still say you are from Texas, well, I know I have another blog to write about that phenomenon in itself.
I have been going to First Monday off and on for over 45 years. Yes I am still a rookie when it come to those Texans I know who have been, and are still going every month, for over 80 years. I have some fond memories of First Monday and each time I go those memories come back when I look at how much the trades day has changed over just the past ten years.
My wife, being from Texas but who readily clarifies her statement with saying she is originally from the Northwest, has only been to Canton four of five times, but two of them was to pull into the friggin Dairy Queen they have right off I20 that she finds reminds her of the Northwest and I find less than ordinary. The other times she was in Canton were when I took her to First Monday.
Yesterday, yes that was a Friday; we went to Canton to catch the second day of the now five day trades day. Yep, the trades day has gotten so popular over 150 years that nobody can see all of it in one or two and most cases three days unless you hop on one of the hundreds of friggin electric carts that someone is ingeniously making a small fortune renting to people to attempt to cover more grown than walking will provide. But more on this sub-plot of how Canton has changed for the better and for the worst a little later.
This trip we made to Canton First Monday was our first in over five years. Why, well, playing golf allover the country usually has kept us away from going regularly, but since we did not have any golf to play this day we thought we would drive down to do some holiday shopping.
Well, the changes the City of Canton, Texas made to the Trade-Days grounds they manage was another phenomenon in itself. What use to be old gravel roadways and trade booth plots laid out on the ground with white stakes driven in the ground now are replaced with paved streets, covered concrete booth plots and two story metal building lofts with shops along with permanent shops spotted all over the 200 acres. To say Canton is proud of their facility is a huge understatement.
Years ago, the trade’s day held to its basic tradition of offering a place for anyone to come in and lay out whatever they wanted to sale or trade right there on the ground or on the tailgate of their wagons.. Back in the 1850’s the trades day was a crucial necessity to people to come in and get the staples they needed to survive in the new state of Texas.
Over the years the items being offered started stretching the imagination of what on earth some of the stuff people brought in to sell had to do with anything. Snake Oil salesmen and the carnival operators all were trying to find their place and be where there were lots of people to market what they had to sell. Most of that has been brought under control by the overseers of the trade day.
All of this was done in a very harsh environment and the trades days would go on rain or shine making for some of these monthly gatherings really messy events. This uncomfortable environment was causing issues so the organizers of the visionaries of the trades day moved the trade booths of dry goods and supplies up the hill to drier ground leaving the trade of livestock in the river bottom where things stand today.
What has taken place is the current trades day grounds where the dry goods and crafts are being sold has grown expeditiously while the livestock section, or Dog Alley as it is called now, is still crammed into the Caddo River bottom about a mile away from the more popular trades day facility sitting on the side of a hill just North of the Canton Town Square.
But getting back to what is taking place to day compared to just five years ago. The last time I visited Canton I was enjoying the environment I had grown up to enjoy with a split between gravel roadways with grass root ‘ma and paw’ vendors who gather up the stuff they have accumulated since the month, pack it all into the trades day to offer visitors to buy or trade and the fancy retailers who bring in the truck loads of items you see at Nordstrums. For the ‘ma and paw, vendors they are there in hopes of making a few bucks. I am sure many of these vendors have been coming for several generations and the revenue they make maybe their primary income. As far as the big vendors, they too have been coming for years and found that the market is profitable for them as well.
The covered pavilions are the place where the more commercial vendors set up shop with some of them looking like a retail store than a trade day set-up. None the less, what was being displayed in the ‘covered pavilions’ was more crafty items and antique furniture which was satisfying the huge elder and senior citizen market that attended the five day event.
Now, yesterday, most of my fond memories of strolling around looking at custom pit-grills and metal artwork were satisfied, but the new additions of two story lofted pavilions and the endless maze of covered concrete paths leading everywhere left this backwoods squirrel hunter lost to knowing where the heck I was at any given time. This could explain the bewildered look on one elderly gentlemen’s face of a glaring stare he had of the horizon while carrying a huge stuffed buffalo head down the aisle. He was probably trying to remember where the heck he parked.
The biggest and most aggravating change Canton First Monday Trade Day has made that not only was upsetting to me, but to everyone walking in the aisles was the hundreds of electric shopping carts driven by people without any apparent physical disability. Mental disabilities were abandoning, but physical, I am very doubtful. I will make this entire travesty a separate blog since I am still a little torqued with the two incidents where I felt the people in these carts were using them as their own armored personal carrier to bulldoze through the crowds.
Now, image, this was just the Friday of the Canton Trade Days. The main trade day traffic is Saturday and Sunday. Friday is for those who can get off work and want to see the items for sell before the crowds pick over the best stuff on the weekend. Yesterday was not real crowded but under the pavilions where the booths are side-by-side for a few hundred yards, it was getting really crowded.
For those of you who have not experienced this event, the Friday crowd is about a 10th of the size of the weekend crowds that come in from all over the WORLD to be part of this monthly gathering. Yes, that is right; people drive in from all over the world to see this phenomenon. While I was sitting and enjoying my huge slice of Coconut Cream Pie I overheard the conversation from a group sitting behind me who was from Canada. They were remarking on how much better it was to come to the trade day on Friday than when they came the year before on a Saturday. One made the comment that her bruise from being run over my one of the electric carts last year was just about healed. I took it that she was exaggerating with the light chuckles the group made from her statement as we all were dodging a teenager driving his personal scooter through the pie eating section of Canton.
Since I have experienced all the five days of Canton First Monday Trade day I can truthfully say, Saturday all day and Sunday afternoon in Canton is probably not the place someone who is closticphobic might want to be. Experiencing the trade day on these days is something for a person who has a ‘Herd Mentality’ because if you are shopping you have to be able to graze fast before the herd pushes you down the aisle.
I am all for change and overall, I like what Canton has done to the facility. They just need to get those friggin electric carts under control and maybe put the restrictions back for just the people who take the time to furnish a Dr Prescription. I know they are trying to keep the market crowds full of people who say they are from Texas shopping and trying to make it easier for those people who want to enjoy the time at Canton Trades day however there are some other alternatives. I’ll provide those later.
For you people who are FROM Texas, if you have not been to Canton 1st Monday Trade-Day, well, I am not sure what part of Texas you are really from, if you are really from Texas at all. I suggest that to solidify your official status of being from Texas you get on down to East Texas and check this traditional happening out. Then you will be certifiably from Texas even if you really are from Oklahoma.
