Editor’s Note: The Mebane City Council approved the rezoning of the Buckhorn Road property 4-1 on Monday, July 1.
Since it began decades ago, the Buckhorn Flea Market in Orange County has served as a one-stop shop for many of its visitors’ needs. Food, clothing and hand-made items are all available – but unlike most places, you can also find goods and services ranging from mattresses to vehicle tires and live animals to a hairdresser.
Henry Taledo — one of the vendors — offers a variety of tools and home repair items, which he spreads across at a packed table set up under a tent. Each weekend across six years of selling at the market, he takes the items in and out of a dozen plastic bins he uses to transport the items each day and occasionally sleeps at the flea market to protect his inventory and other vendors’ items.
“We have a lot of things here for construction,” he said with the translation of Wendy Padilla. “We have tape measures, we have drills, we have power cords, we have wrenches and hammers. We have a very eclectic table, and [my wife] recently started selling soaps and household items.”
Taledo, who is originally from Honduras and now lives in Mebane, said he’s the main income-earner for his family and uses the flea market to earn extra money to help pay for his three daughters who are in school. He describes learning about the flea market’s closing and said the decision is “very impactful” to the whole family.
“The way they did it, just giving us such a short notice,” said Taledo, “is really unreasonable and it’s not… kind.”
As the Interstate 40/Interstate 85 corridor in western Orange County continues to attract development opportunities, the trucking company R+L Carriers is planning to build a new truck depot off Buckhorn Road near the interstate’s exit. The project was unanimously approved by the Mebane planning board on June 10 and appears poised to be passed by the city council – but will come at the expense of the Buckhorn Flea Market that’s operated on the site for decades.
Henry Taledo poses with one of his tables at the Buckhorn Flea Market on Saturday, June 22, 2024.
Vendors first received notice from the flea market’s management that their operations would be shutting down on June 12, as a letter was handed out to some of the vendors. The message — in English — said the final day of sales would be June 30 and all vendors will have until the end of the day on July 15 to remove their inventory from the property. The methodology sparked confusion, as the message did not reach all vendors at the same time and there was no listed contact for management.
A photo of the letter distributed to some Buckhorn Flea Market vendors about its impending closure. (Photo via Francisco Cruz on Facebook.)
Padilla, a Hillsborough resident, has used the flea market over the years to buy coconuts and other tropical food she can’t find in stores. She said when she learned about its impending closure while visiting, she wanted to be a vocal advocate to the vendors’ experience. Since then, Padilla has coordinated interviews with the media and met with local elected officials to ask what changes can be made – including whether an extension of the move-out deadline is possible.
“It is an injustice what is happening to the people here at the flea market,” said Padilla, “that they’re not getting enough time for them to figure out what they’re going to do.”
One challenge facing the flea market vendors is that no contractual leases seem to exist with its management. Most of the 300-500 merchants there each weekend are allowed a spot based on handshake agreements and monthly payments in cash. The management’s lack of public availability also creates difficulties – as Chapelboro was unable to confirm who manages the site and what their connection is to the proposed R+L Carriers project.
But any lack of a formal lease did not stop vendors from investing their own earnings into their stations at the Buckhorn Flea Market. German Tascon and Idalia Gallegos, a husband-and-wife duo, each bought a carport for their respective spots around seven months ago. Now, they have sold off the shelters at below-value prices because of the closing timeline and nowhere with enough space to keep them beyond Buckhorn Road.
Tascon said he and Gallegos moved to the area from Cary in order to be closer to the flea market grounds and said it’s difficult to think ahead about what comes next in their lives.
“We are just [up in the] air,” he said through translation. “We’re very perplexed, we can’t even think straight as to what to do. We’re wondering what we should do, but we have [Wendy] here – she’s really trying to help us and we’re hopeful maybe we can convince some people to extend the time so everybody can manage and process and move somewhere.”
German Tascon stands with one of his tables, full of electronic equipment and speakers, at the Buckhorn Flea Market.
Gallegos was more positive about their next steps, but she echoed a sentiment shared by many of the market’s vendors: they understand that the flea market is not permanent, and that development would eventually happen. She said the lack of communication about a project advancing and threatening their future has been the most frustrating.
“We understand that [this area] needs to make changes,” she said, “and we will continue to move forward and re-do everything again. But just to be abruptly told ‘you’ve got to go,’ it really makes us sad.
“The other people in the [flea market vendor] community,” Gallegos added, “it affects them more than it affects me – so I’m sad for them as well.”
Idalia Gallegos stands with her jewelry table at the flea market. She had to sell her bigger carport just months after buying it because of the market’s timeline for closure.
While vendors at the flea market may have only learned about the changes on June 12, the project causing it to close for has been underway for at least a few weeks longer. Property records show a business with an Anderson, South Carolina address purchasing the 83 acres in early May – around the same time R+L Carriers and their developers sent out a letter to residents near the property about an informational meeting over the proposed development. When asked about the end of the timeline for the deal and flea market’s future at the June 10 Mebane Planning Board meeting, Dave Pokela of Maynard Nexen – who was representing the developers at the meeting – indicated the process following the board’s vote would move quickly.
“This will go in front of city council on July 1,” said the attorney. “I think that our due diligence period under the contract expires on July 3, and I think closing is within 15 days [of that] – giving that approximately, that’s what I understand to be the process.”
“And the beginning of closing the flea market,” asked planning board member Colin Cannell, “would happen pretty rapidly after that, is that what you’re saying?”
“I think it would have to,” Pokela replied.
A preliminary site plan for the trucking depot proposed by R+L Carriers at 529 Buckhorn Road. (Photo via Kimley-Horn/R+L Carriers.)
If its rezoning request is approved by Mebane’s City Council, R+L Carriers says it will construct a truck terminal around 136,000 square feet, as well as a maintenance building, a truck wash, and a fueling island. The spot is expected to generate more than 1,100 daily vehicles trips and the use of the land aligns with both Mebane’s comprehensive plan for development and the Orange County Buckhorn Area Plan.
While some people may feel sad to see a trucking terminal replace the flea market, others feel differently. The flea market business is rather informal. It’s unclear how many follow the state laws outlining what can and cannot be sold and whether they have vendor licenses. Some community members claim to have seen illicit activities happen there.
That could all be true – as is the fact Orange County is losing a resource that serves as a place of affordability, employment, and community for the region’s Latin population.
Padilla said she feels like the area will lose a key international melting pot and the people around the flea market are not being considered by the local government. She said she has organized community members who are emailing the Mebane City Council and plan to be at the July 1 meeting where the R+ L Carriers project could be formally approved.
Taledo, meanwhile, said if given the chance to speak with people in charge, his message would be clear.
“I would plead,” he said. “I would plead that they don’t close the flea market and they allow us stay here for a few months so we can figure out where we need to go.”
“We’re only asking for a little more time,” Gallegos said. “Enough time to get us to organize ourselves, figure out where we’re going to go, where we’re going to put our stuff, how we’re going to function.
“We’re just saying: have some compassion,” she added. “Think about us, and help us by giving us a little more time.”
Because the project is within Mebane’s jurisdiction, it has not come before the Orange County Commissioners. When reached for comment, chair of the commissioners Jamezetta Bedford said while the county’s economic development office has worked with the Orange County Investors Partnership for years to find suitable projects for the I-40/I-85 corridor, she did not wish to comment on the timeline of vacating the flea markets’ vendors. Bedford did say, however, any Orange County residents needing food, employment services or other support during the transition should contact the county’s Department of Social Services in Hillsborough.
“I hope with the current low employment rate, that displaced vendors can find meaningful employment quickly with the many local companies hiring for a variety of positions,” added the board chair.
Requests for comment sent to a representative of the Buckhorn Flea Market property’s ownership did not respond to Chapelboro by the time of publication.
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