Tanque Verde Swap Meet at 40 years

It’s big. And busy. About 800 vendors can fit into the meet, which takes up 19 of the 33 acres. Huge parking lots accommodate the 5,000 to 10,…

To get a feel for the ebb and flow on one of Tucson's busiest and most enduring attractions, we spent a Saturday walking the aisles.

9:15 a.m. The knife seller, Turnage, has all his display cases out and is ready for the yet-to-come crowd. He decides to stroll the grounds. “…

1 p.m. It’s been slow. And hot. The comic book and 99-cent stores are closed, the tot-sized Ferris wheel is still. Vendors sit under the paras…

6 p.m. There’s a quickening energy. Most of the permanent buildings have opened — the cosmetic shop, the boot place, the cell phone stores. Th…

10 p.m. Dawn Brandt sits down for a soft drink and a rest. The blacksmith comes here about once a month to see what she can find. Tonight, it’…

Ken Fiore was just four when he started working at the Tanque Verde Swap Meet 40 years ago.

Everything was looking up when, in 1987, panic struck: The swap meet was losing its lease and had 90 days to leave to make way for retail spac…

While business at the swap meet dipped, Solberg was doing just fine: He had opened his own store, Kent’s Tools, a 3,000-square-foot store at 1…