Sparks/White Cloud ~ Fall 09 ~ The Scenery

This weekend (starting Friday for me!) has been a good one for flea markets and antique shows! Friday, I took off work and traveled to the twice yearly Sparks and White Cloud Flea Markets ~ about an hour and a half from my home. On the way, I passed through many other small towns ~ places like Troy, Wathena & Fanning ~ many have interesting signs welcoming you to their town.

{signs coming and going}

{Dairy Barn in Wathena}

White Cloud is about 10 miles from Sparks ~ at some point in its history it must have been an up and coming small town ~ there is a main street and surrounding streets, a decent sized school and a giant grain elevator. Now, things seem rather deserted ~ I believe the population is under 100 ~ the school serves as a museum and many of the homes and buildings have fallen into disrepair. Twice a year the flea market brings in many people ~ the main street is lined with vendors, the open field at the top of the hill is usually filled and several buildings house vendors as well ~ you never know what you will find!

{Welcome to White Cloud!}

{Grain elevator}

{White Cloud School/Museum}

{Home along Main Street ~ nice wood shingle pattern!}

Sparks, on the other hand, is even smaller and even less of a town than White Cloud ~ I think the population here is under 30! There are several buildings that look to be the start of a town, but it looks as if it never took off. I guess that when the flea market is not going on, it would be easy to drive by and barely notice the town at all.

A moment of panic as I saw a few raindrops, but lucky for me it never rained while I was shopping at either place! I managed to get a few shots of what the vendors had to offer ~ and my purchases as well ~ I will share those in my next posts!

{bank building at Sparks}

{Sarge & Bonnie welcoming me to Sparks!}