Trade it

Whatchya want? Because, baby, they probably got it.

On the third weekend of each month, folks from across Texas and even parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma gather at the Seminole Trade Days trade show, a three-day shopping event that offers off-the-beaten-path shoppers a chance to find that one-of-a-kind object they may be hard-pressed to find at the average mall.

The 24,000-square-foot indoor facility contains about 110 stalls filled with everything from handmade jewelry to individually crafted metalwork and woodwork to hunting gear, co-owner Butch Ragsdale said.

"You name it, it's here about somewhere," he said. "Anybody who has a product would do good here. I can't think of anything we wouldn't sell here, except probably beer and whiskey."

Ragsdale said he and his wife established the monthly bazaar three years ago after seeing a need for a monthly trade show in the region.

On the weekend of March 20, the show celebrated its third anniversary, he said. Since that first weekend, the event has gone from 13 vendors to about 100 in March, which he called a "full house."

Vendor Keithel German, owner of two booths - Southern Edge Cutlery and Spiritual Gifts and Southern Edge Salsa down the row - said he was one of the first vendors to sign up for a booth at the show.

"They've put a lot of hard work into this," he said. "When we first got here there was nothing. It was filthy, and Butch and Janie got all this cleaned up pretty much by themselves." He pointed at the orderly rows of booths around his own. "Look at it now."

Kay Zachry and her partner established their shop, Desperate Divas, at the facility because it offers a unique shopping experience for those who attend - and they come from all over, places like Amarillo, Lubbock and Odessa. The variety of products changes every month, which gives folks a new shopping experience every month they attend, "so they won't see the same old thing every time they come up."

"They find things they're not going to find anywhere else, because we only found one of them to begin with," she said.

Zachry said business has been great for vendors. Traffic is consistently high.

"Most of the time I don't know what they make," Ragsdale said of his vendors' profits, "but if they're smiling when they leave, I figure they did pretty well."

Cross Plains-native Charlsie Richardson and her husband have been making the approximately 250-mile trip to Seminole to set up their shop, Coyote Flat, for 10 months, she said. After years in the vendor business, Seminole Trade Days offers more than good business.

She said it offers good people, too.

"The show's out this way are a lot better," Richardson said. "The people are really, really friendly. We've been all over, and the people are just really friendly out here."

But the key to a successful trade show, German said, is what the customer and the community as a whole think.

"Kids come out and enjoy it," he said. "It's really for the whole community. They all come out. Whether they buy anything or not, they have fun."

IF YOU GO

>> What: Seminole Trade Days trade show.

>> Where: 812 S.E. Avenue F, Seminole.

>> When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the third Friday, Saturday and Sunday of every month.

>> Cost: admission and parking are free. Call in advance for on-site RV spaces.

>> Call: 432-758-0807.