See The World and Never Leave Texas. Part 2: Canton

There are almost 30 towns named Canton in the US, the most famous being the one in Ohio, home of the National Football Hall of Fame. About Canton OH, Dennis Miller once wryly remarked that you cannot get any good Cantonese food...

Canton TX is about 60 miles east of Dallas and we found out it is on route one for LSU fans heading home. They had a college football game against Oregon at Cowboys Stadium and clogged I30 on their way back to the Cajun state. About twelve times a year, shoppers are drawn like moths to Canton TX for the First Monday Trade Days. This is an outdoor flea market covering 100 acres and can hold up to 6,000 vendors. The population of Canton has been known to swell from about 5,000 to over 300,000 when the flea market is open.



"Vendors" in the loosest definition; seems that just about anything that can be loaded onto a truck and dragged to the flea market can be sold and bought. Never has the phrase "one mans trash is another mans treasure" seemed so apt. Clothing, art, furniture, car parts, CD's, records, gramophones, tools, yard art... there was no apparent end as to what could be purchased. Maybe they even have Cantonese food?


Nice looking STOP sign...


After much haggling in broken Spanish, we came away with a pig and a goat. Pastor y cabrito for all. The pig is sort of bold-looking, maybe it is the Sligo colors.



Thankfully, they are the tin "heche en Mexico" kind... This is the best sort of ranching, low maintenance.