ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
Every year at this time, the streets of Hillsville are filled with cars and the yards alongside them are filled with everything from antique dishes to mounted fish. All of this is just a prelude, of course, to the annual Labor Day Flea Market and Gun Show, which takes over some 250 acres of western Hillsville near the intersection of U.S. 52 and 58.
This will be the show's 2 9th year.
"It's biiiiiiiggg," Town Manager Larry South said recently in his best Andy Griffith imitation. "It's the biggest thing that ever happens in Hillsville."
South is at the four-day gun show and flea market every year - inspecting some of the 2,500 vending licenses his department issues. "We put in a lot of overtime," he said.
Melvin and Glendon Webb are at the show every year, too. They've been there since it started, working "the inside" at the VFW complex. (The VFW sponsors the event.)
"That first year we had very few people," Glendon Webb said. "We had no flea market. Just guns."
People traveled from 150 miles away to attend those first shows. "Now they come from thousands of miles away," Glendon Webb said. She should know. It's often her job to sort through the cards people fill out for door prizes. "We had people from more than 30 states and four foreign countries one year," she said.
Because she works inside the VFW building, she doesn't get to spend much time browsing the flea market that has "taken over this town." But she always finds something to buy. "I'm a jewelry girl. I like jewelry. But there's most anything anyone could want. It's out there."
To accommodate the 350,000 people who visit the show (and the people who want to bypass it) regular traffic patterns in and around Hillsville will change today through Monday.
"These measures will improve traffic flow, but they won't eliminate congestion and delays," Junior Goard, resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation's Hillsville Office, said in a news release.
No left turns or "rights on red" will be allowed from U.S. 52 onto U.S. 58/ Virginia 221 in Hillsville. Only through traffic and right turns with the signal will be permitted.
Electronic message boards at the intersection of U.S. 52 and Virginia 148 at Fancy Gap will instruct motorists entering Hillsville to use Interstate 77 North.
Parking in the median of U.S. 58 from the Hillsville town limits to I-77 won't be permitted.
Parking and shuttle bus service into the flea market area will be available at the intersection of U.S. 58 and Virginia 808 South, a secondary road. Additional parking will be available at the VFW building on U.S. 52 in Hillsville and in private lots.
If you don't want to attend the event, look for alternate routes - they'll be marked.
Admission to the VFW show is $1. Children under 12 are admitted free.
There is no charge for the rest of the sprawl.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by staff. color.by CNB