A Hot Commodity
In regards to the discussion today, I kept thinking about my
hometown. The city of Canton, Texas is pretty unheard of considering the size.
The one and only thing we are known for is First Monday Trade Days, a large flea
market held one weekend every month. This flea market geographically takes up
over half of the town, and the population triples in size over the weekend.
Originally Trade Days started as a way to auction off stray horses in the area.
(It is Texas after all) Once a month, all of these strays were brought to the
town square for the auction, and soon people from all over the state would
bring their own horses to sell or trade. This activity transformed over time
and people started bringing their own goods to trade, and First Monday became a
social activity. All of the trading was done in the streets of the town center.
If you fast forward to First Monday in 2019, there are over
100 acres designated to the flea market. These grounds are now mostly paved
with large buildings known as the Arbors, where thousands of buyers and sellers
gather. Something that was once a strategy for selling stray horses transformed
into a tactical operation of organic commerce, and is now once again a strategized commodity where vendors pay for their booth and buyers "pay for admission" by means of parking fees.
Town Square Mural
The Arbors Entrance
Aerial View of First Monday Grounds
That's a great example for this week's reading. It's interesting how fluidly spaces can be transformed from public to public commodified. Could we get more of these organically formed spaces if we let go a bit? Or is it necessary to organize something when it gets to a certain scale?
ReplyDeletePragmatically, I'm sure it makes a lot of sense for them to move the Trade Days out to a fair grounds type place, but I wonder what it would be like if they had kept the market in the town center and allowed it to grow naturally? I'm guessing the size of vendors and spaces would be much smaller and clustered together more.
ReplyDeleteI gotta comment on this since I live 45 minutes from Canton and know it well (from the care window driving past it). I think this is a good example of the reading and shows how people can take over a space. I also think it's very interesting how it started as just selling some horses and has turned into something that draws people from all around.
ReplyDelete