
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 13, 1993                   TAG: 9312130079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT'S STEADY, NOT FRANTIC, AT HAPPY'S

A ceramic ashtray in the shape of a bulldog sparked talk between vendor Robert Crawford and a customer, and Crawford recalled an old canine friend that really stank when it slobbered.

The long-gone dog was spoken of with respect, though, as the seller and the shopper carried out a tradition of flea markets.

Visiting and talking.

Happy's Flea Market, a landmark on Williamson Road Northwest in Roanoke, hasn't changed much in years, and neither is it transformed by the season.

Fruitcake slices at Florence Miller's stand near the Chic jeans and Etienne Aigner shops signaled the holiday. But most of the crowd at Happy's Saturday were regulars.

Shawn Brown, 14, sold baseball cards to a vendor. He said the proceeds would increase his funds for gift shopping, but he sells and trades cards in all seasons.

Early-morning snow flurries that dressed Western Virginia drove away outdoor vendors and focused the action inside. Still, there were no harried masses, not even Mary Hawkins and Teddy Spickard, who stood in front of a sweat-shirt display, each holding a long list of names.

Hawkins and Spickard said they are from large families, and had already bought for more than 25 relatives. Hawkins already had bought one of the shirts for herself.

Bill and Wanda Thompson have run the printed sweat-shirt stand at Happy's for more than 10 years. Wanda Thompson said, as usual, she will get home Christmas Eve just when it's time to sit down to eat.

Sweat shirts enjoy a sales boost this time of year, but there's less of a holiday market for a $4.50 bulldog ashtray, a Persian lamb coat with fur collar or sheet music for "Toolie Oolie Oolie, the Yodel Polka."

Eugene Brown, of Brown's Collectibles, said he sold a lot of antiques for presents in November when he discounted everything 25 percent. There haven't been many gift sales since, though.

"Most people that buy at flea markets keep it themselves," said Fran Barker, whose shop featured, among other things, a miniature rooster detailed even to wire feet and an itsy bitsy sheep wearing real fleece.

by CNB