Saturday, October 1, 2011

Greensboro vs Roanoke- Battle of the Fleas





We wrap our series of entries on which city is 'better,' my hometown of Roanoke, Va., or my adopted city of Greensboro, NC, two cities which are divided by a 100-mile stretch of Route 220 (aka the Moonshine Highway) up with a look at flea markets.

In Roanoke, there is Happy's Flea Market, a landmark, cultural icon on Williamson Road, where one can find very unique items ranging from Partridge Family records on vinyl (yes, I actually purchased some of these for like $1.50 as a gag gift) to up-scale kitsch like velvet paintings of a Native American.

In Greensboro, there is the Big Flea Market, which is not open every single day like Happy's (well, they maybe closed for Christmas), but rather it comes up some eight to ten times a year. The event will be held next weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Since both places are flea markets, they sell many similar items, but Greensboro might be the better place to find an antique clock or a red state weapon of choice (forgive the political humor). I suppose an antique clock could be a weapon too, actually.

So, which one would I choose? As the late left-wing philosopher Howard Zinn, who was actually more liberal than I am, once said: "No one can stay neutral in the path of a runaway train."

With that in mind, I will choose Big Flea as I have a thing for antique clocks even though I personally can't afford them!

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