Horns begin new business venture
Hilltop Flea Market has been open on Richmond Road since the July 4 weekend, but some folks still think the long narrow building is a storage building.
However, with 12 bays rented to a dozen or so different vendors, customers can buy everything from clothes to furniture to antiques there. One of the vendors operates a concession stand that sells funnel cakes, cheeseburgers and fries, etc.
Hilltop owners Dextral and Wanda Horn are hoping to make some money and provide an opportunity for local citizens to do the same.
Wanda says she has always enjoyed shopping flea markets and has had more free time to do so since retiring from teaching in 1988.
Wanda began her career at Knob Lick School in the fall of 1959, just after she graduated from high school.
She says she was “emergency certified,” but later completed her training at Eastern Kentucky University while she taught at several small community schools.
From the Thomas and Hargett schools, to the Granny Richardson Springs and Big Springs schools, then to South Irvine Elementary where she taught second grade for many years, Wanda’s teaching career has taken her all over the county.
Wanda’s meandering school career may have touched off a bit of wanderlust. She enjoys traveling now and has taken several bus tours to various regions of the country.
Her husband, Dextral Horn, is also owner of Horn’s Excavating and Truck Sales. He’s been in the business ever since he’s been “out on his own.”
He started on this project during the fall of last year at the urging of several people who thought the site next to the highly traveled Highway 52 would make a good location for a flea market.
“We get lots of traffic here,” Dextral says, “but this economy is against us. I’ll tell you next year if this is a good idea.”
The couple built a nice apartment over the flea market so they can keep an eye on the business.
The Horns will be hosting a grand opening celebration on Sept.17 at Hilltop Flea Market. They will be giving away free hot dogs and drinks from 1-5 p.m. and have invited some groups to perform live music. Anyone who would like to set up a yard sale on the premises that day may pay $10 dollars to do so. Call 859-582-1872 to reserve a spot.