Trade Day markets in Texas are confusing to newcomers. Third Monday Trade Days is the name of the monthly flea market in McKinney. It's called "Third Monday" but it's never open on Monday. And it's called a trade days, but one rarely sees shoppers bringing items to trade. And who can keep up with the dates? It's held on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday preceding the third Monday of each month. Is that the third weekend? Not necessarily. For recent arrivals to Texas, the whole notion of a Third Monday Trade Days that is not held on Monday and where people don't trade and where the only way to figure out which day to come is to count Mondays is, to say the least, crazy.
You would think that with that amount of confusion, trade day markets could not survive. But survive they do. With over one-quarter million people coming to Third Monday Trade Days from all over the United States in the last 12 months, it is one of the leading tourist attractions in North Texas. It survives because it offers an opportunity for adults to be kids again and to see and touch those things they remember as children and to tell their children and grandchildren how it once was.
Next time you are at Trade Days, maybe you'll be lucky. You'll find that special item that invokes a special memory, and you'll give that item-a BB gun or a doll-a new home. And maybe not. Maybe you won't find anything special this month, but there's always next month . . . if you can count Mondays. "Honey, is this Trade Day weekend?"