The Canton council voted unanimously for First Monday Trade Days to resume in June contingent upon the state’s guidance of health and safety protocols.
Similar trade days across East Texas have have already opened or plan to be open soon. Including:
- Traders Village Grand Prairie opened May 1 and has over 3500 vendors
- Bowie Trade Days opened May 9 and has over 400 booths
- Third Monday Trade Days in McKinney is set to open May 15 with over 450 vendors
The only concern brought up during the discussion was the amount of people and how security would be managed.
Gov. Abbott’s most recent executive order restricts enclosed areas to limit capacity to 25%. For the Canton Civic Center, where the event partially takes place, that is 283 people according to the Canton City Council.
First Monday Trade Days is a monthly flea market held in Canton, Texas.
In March, the event for April was cancelled. This is the first time in the events 170-year history this had happened.
“The safety of our citizens, vendors, visitors, and employees remains our highest priority,” Canton Trade Days said in a statement. “Closing First Monday due to COVID-19 was a hard decision because it supports more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and local merchants who rely on this market for their livelihood. But, we feel closing the April 2-5, 2020 Trade Days is in the best interest of our local community and the thousands of folks who come from all over the country to sell and shop at First Monday, Canton. We want to help fight the spread of this virus and hope you join us in our efforts.”
The market is actually held on the Thursday through Sunday preceding the first Monday of each month. It boasts being the largest and oldest continually operated flea market in the US.
Reportedly, depending on the time of year, up to 100,000 shoppers frequent the fair in a weekend.
The event will be held on May 28-31.
