Nearly 700 flea market vendors spent their day waiting in their vehicles for the Fairgrounds Nashville's gates to open before unloading their items.
Gates normally open at 7 a.m. but that didn't happen until around 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
Flea Market manager Mary Ann Smith said the reason for this month's delay was partially due cleanup efforts following last week's Tennessee State Fair.
"We can't control that part. We tried to notify everybody and I'm sorry that they had to spend most of the day here because they were so late getting everything set up for the flea market itself. I apologized," Smith said.
Smith has been a part of the Flea Market management for 16 years.
Bruce Colbert, age 49, of Arkansas waited about 16 hours in line.
He left his home at around 11 p.m. Wednesday night explaining that he likes to arrive early in order to unload his trailer a specific way.
"I was really thinking maybe I should have slept in my own bed last night and came after lunch today. But you never really know what to expect from the flea market. You just really never know what's going to happen," he said.
It takes Colbert four hours to travel to Nashville. He has participated at the fairgrounds nearly 10 previous times but said he missed the memo about the delayed gate opening time.
But he said he didn't let the delay bother him.
"I'll be 50 next month and before I had four children, when I was younger, I'd be out here pitching a fit, I'd be mad, I'd be blood red and I'd probably wouldn't be able to talk to you right now. But with each child, I've matured a little bit and now I just laugh it off," he said.
Smith said in August, the organization tried to remind vendors about the potential problem but some still decided to arrive for the usual gate time.
Flea Market will run 8 a.m. to 5 p.m on Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
