Canton, TX: Checking it off the Texas bucket list

One of the barns full of stuff

One of the items on my Texas Bucket List has been First Monday's in Canton, TX. For those that don't know this is a giant craft market with just about everything you could ever imagine. I talked two of my girlfriends into taking this adventure with me, we ended up going twice two months in a row since we got lost the first time. First Monday is divided into four parts: the Mountain, Dog Alley, Old Market Place, and the main part.

First Trip
We got there in the early afternoon and I of course put on tons of sunscreen, can't burn this skin, and we headed off. We started in Dog Alley, which was full of puppies, cats, chickens, really everything you could want. We started to pet the dogs but it was a little weird to be told to use hand sanitizer before petting the dogs. After a bit of this we headed to the Old Mill section, only a few of the shops were occupied. Then we went to the Mountain, which was super cute and hilly. This was more like an upscale garage sale and lots of junk. At this point I was over Canton, because where was the homemade stuff?!? I had asked a few people about it but no one was really helpful. We went to the Farmers Market and finally a woman was like see all of those barns across the street... that is what you were looking for. I was so over it and hot so we decided to just head home. I didn't buy anything or get a funnel cake. So I wasn't sure about this adventure at all.

Second Trip
L convinced me that we should give Canton another go, so we decided to go back the next month and only hit up the Main Barns. Parking was slightly more difficult on this trip, we wanted to be closer to the shopping this time. After we parked we got in and it was everything I could have ever hoped for. I saw so many hand crafted things, knowing I was moving really kept me from buying everything. I struggled with figuring out what I wanted and what is worth the money. Hand-crafted things are super expensive and I like to make sure I feel like they are well made before ponying up. In the end I grabbed two Texas Stars for my new patio in Florida.

They are rusty and awesome. I am pretty sure that I can sand these and paint them a different color at some point in life. I think I want to like rustic things but I don't like them. I really like pretty fancy things, so I am sure these will get painted eventually but for $3 each I will love them.

Here are a couple of tips, things I wish we had done better:
-Hit up the main barns and leave the rest alone
-Wear sneakers and shorts. It gets warm in there and we went on days that weren't too hot yet.
-If you are really shopping bring a cart. Having to carry whatever we bought kept me from buying lots of things, but if I was really shopping I would have borrowed a cart from someone so that I didn't have to carry it.
-Look for deals but if you find something you like I would just buy it.
-Use a backpack, I would have loved to not have to buy water so that I could stay hydrated. However, unlike in Dallas most of the water was $1 so it wasn't bad to have to buy water.