The Labor Day Hillsville Flea Market, 2011

It was last Saturday morning, the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, when my husband, Andy, uttered the dreaded words "Hey, let's go to Hillsville." I must explain that although Hillsville, Virginia is a perfectly nice, small (population under 3,000) town, every year Hillsville is transformed into the biggest flea market in Southern Virginia. This thing is huge! According to Hillsville.com, an estimated 500,000 (can that number be correct?) bargain hunters from all over the country swarm this little place over the three day weekend, looking for antiques, art, vendor-style food and a whole lot of junk.

Having said this, I have to admit that I have found a few interesting items over the past few years, mostly rust covered metal things- rust being a good thing if you live in a rustic cedar home as I do.

Some of my finds include: An abstract rusty metal tree (sans leaves) sculpture that sits on my living room coffee table, a large metal star atop the pie safe, a blue and white plate, jewelry to break up and use in my own handmade jewelry and a giant metal cutout of a cowboy within a hoop. This is a welcome sign, rusty of course, which hangs on one end of our house.

Back to the flea market. So, I have found a few treasures in the past but what a hassle! The day started out great as Andy and I drove West on Highway 58, also known as Jeb Stuart Hwy and for miles and miles: The Crooked Road. We drove into the Blue Ridge mountains, past Lovers Leap and navigated the twists and turns of the road into the tiny town of Meadows Of Dan where we found a corn maze, live music and a craft fair. I visited The Dan River Book Store and bought a lovely hand bound journal with a Scottish motif.

Just past "Turnip Patch Road" (I swear it is true) we stopped for local produce - apples and tomatoes but Andy thought it was a little early for the mountain cabbage, so we will return next month.

Before I continue, Dear Readers, if you have never eaten fried mountain cabbage, well, you just haven't lived! Here is how you do it:

Slice one cabbage into 1/4 inch slices as well as one or two sweet onions. Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan or wok and cook the vegies down over medium heat until soft and fully cooked. Add salt, pepper and a little hot sauce like Texas Pete. Yum!

On to the the Hillsville Flea Market. It took 45 minutes to drive the usual 10 minutes through town. We stopped and started moving 5 miles per hour dodging a sea of people and cars. Parking in a $5.00 space, we walked many, many blocks trying to find a certain South Carolina vendor who sold us the metal before mentioned items. Oh my, it started sprinkling and the umbrella and hats were in the car. Miss South Carolina was not in her usual space so after buying a jar of apple butter and discovering that my camera had died, I was ready to leave! The crush of humanity was claustrophobic! We bypassed the corn-dog-on-a-stick, giant turkey legs and cotton candy and headed to the car before the heavy rain reached us.

We had another mission that Saturday and that was to drop off a drawing of Andy and his dog, spike to the Appalachian pencil artist, Willard Gayheart. Willard lives down the road in Woodlawn, Virgina and wants to use the picture he drew of Andy and his bird dog Spike in an upcoming book. The picture depicts Andy taking a break from training Spike, leaning up against his four-wheeler and enjoying the day. There is a faint closeup of Andy in the background complete with cowboy hat. See picture below.

After stopping at Willard's studio, we took the by-pass AROUND Hillsville and headed home. It was a long day. Nice, but long.