Canton First Monday Woes (Trinity, Mart: for sale, home, buy)

[kittytoes2006]

Well, last weekend was First Monday in Canton and it was a big one. I've never seen so many people converge on a town. Our population here during the rest of the month is about 5,000, however, when First Monday is going on it increases to about 300,000 people. All of this increase and basically no improvement on part of the city/county to make the traffic and pedestrian foot traffic any better. All they have done is widen State Hwy. 19. People walk out into the traffic on Hwy.19, many times not even holding the hands of the children. The children dart out in front of the oncoming cars. They have marked crosswalks, but the people are not using them. They cross where it is the most convenient for them. This is a scary situation for the people of this small country town to go through every month. We basically have to get anything we need from the store the week before. A friend was trying to get her small child to the Trinity Mother Frances emergency clinic last Saturday after the child had been cut very badly from a broken glass. It usually would take her 7 minutes to get from her home to the clinic, but it took almost an hour. All the time the child was bleeding severely. There is no "Fire Department" in this city either where she could have gone to in order for her child to receive temporary care until she could reach the clinic. All we have is a "volunteer" fire department. A city that has a population of 300,000 on 3-4 days of the month and only a volunteer fire department?? What is WRONG with this picture. Canton prides itself in staying "country", but this is the wrong concept when it comes to things like this. Something needs to be done.

With all this being said, if you plan on coming to our fair city in order to attend the First Monday Flea Market, please use the crosswalks and watch your children. And please Canton, try to come up with something to alleviate all this mess for the people who live here and have to deal with it every month. It's not fair for us to pay taxes and never see the money put to use. Build some overhead walkways for the people to crossover on. Write citations to those who do not use the crosswalks. Put more traffic control ideas to work for this problem, even if it's temporary police officers to direct the flow of traffic. I challenge you.

[TedH71]

Also heard rumors that every month after Canton Days, dogs/cats would be dumped at the animal shelter. Any truth to that?

[love roses]

Have you lived in Canton very long? I went sometime back in the early to mid 90's and it was that crowded then too.

[blueskies49]

The most recent I've been to First Monday was about 3 years ago and it was like that, too.

[GayleTX]

And in the days BEFORE Trades Days Weekends, many dogs and cats mysteriously 'disappear' from people's yards within a 100 miles of Canton. The last time we were there, there were nearly 20 acres of animals in cages for sale....don't know how many they have now.

[TedH71]

Seriously? That sounds awfully bad.

[HappyTexan]

I went there once a few years ago. It was just way too crowded to really enjoy yourself and have a good time. Never went back.

[MaryS80]

I would never buy an animal out there, and the vast majority if not all who sell animals there are no good. The animals come from backyard breeders, and puppy mills, they are often abused, neglected, and diseased.

If you want a pet go to the pound, or contact a rescue group.

[Spree]

We went to Canton, gosh in the mid 90's. There's nothing there that I can't live without. Was fun to do once.

[kittytoes2006]

Oh yeah, the animal situation has not gotten any better and YES, a lot of people's animals come up missing around the time of first Monday. I think they need to have an animal rights group come out here and investigate the abuse and neglect these poor animals go through on First Monday. It's so sad. We are HUGE animal lovers and it breaks my heart to see and hear this.

First Monday is WAY overrated. People will come and be disillusioned because they could have gotten many of the same things at Wal-Mart even cheaper. Some things are rare and there are many antiques, but for the most part it has just become so commercial it's not fun anymore. I never care to ever go again. The city really should be ashamed of themselves with the traffic and pedestrian thing, too. They are making untold amounts of money and we who live in the city/county NEVER see any improvements.