It was a great day last Sunday, so I revved up the convertible and pointed it down towards some twisty roads in Connecticut, where I found myself in the little town of Mansfield, CT, located just down a bit from the University of Connecticut at Storrs (oops, I guess it’s now called “UCONN“, which, frankly, might smack of irony…but, I digress) and right next door to Willimantic.

Seems that every Sunday from March to November the Mansfield Drive-in Theater & Marketplace hosts the state’s largest Flea Market. With about 50-100 vendors plying their wares on any given Sunday you’re bound to see everything from treasures to detritus, all for a modest admission fee (I paid $2). It’s a great way to relax and socialize as you peruse through society’s tchotchkes and craft goods in pursuit of a pearl of great price.

Words do faint justice in describing this big flea, so I stopped to take a 360-degree panorama of the flea market:

(CT's biggest Flea – click to access a larger image)

Spinning around with my camera appeared to concern a vendor selling “authentic-looking” goods, who apparently didn’t know it isn’t illegal to sell “gray market” goods.

Of course, their main business is as a Drive-in Theater, where aging bobby-soxers can reminisce, amorous teens can fog up the car windows as they turn biology theory into practice, and (perhaps) one, hypothetically, could surreptitiously take advantage of Connecticut’s relaxed drug law while enjoying a double feature on one of Mansfield’s three big screens.

But, you’d better hurry: Their season only runs through November. More disturbingly, in this age of “cloud storage”, YouTube, and broadband internet the Drive-in is quickly being driven into extinction and relegated to nostalgia – the Mansfield Drive-in is only one of three left in Connecticut and about 360 in the United States. And, with eBay, craigslist, and “pickers” as convenient as your nearest keyboard, the traditional American Flea Market may soon join them.

Thanks for reading!