Fairbury Flea Market Shifts To Mid-Week Scheduling

There are ups and downs to every event and this year’s Shriner’s Fourth of July Flea Market in Fairbury is no exception.The weather always plays a factor into an event and rain and humidity may have played a factor in numbers being up or down; however, the Fourth of July falling on a Tuesday was also a factor in the attendance of the event. One of the leaders of the flea market, Jim Mahaffey said, “For the most part the numbers were about the same as they were the previous years. I’ve heard good feedback from those who had attended and even had vendors reserving their spot for next year and the year after that.”One of the vendors reserving their spot for next year was the Grace Lutheran Church Youth Group of Fairbury. Krystal Schroeder, one of the driving forces of the Grace Lutheran Youth Group, said this year was a good year for the group, which has had a food booth at the flea market for the last 10 years with funds going to fund youth group activities and mission trips.The flea market ran from Saturday through Tuesday this year.“There were more days for the flea market, so more shifts, more food to get, but also the more money we made, which is great,” Schroeder said. “I want to thank everyone for stopping by our booth, it really helps.” A tip Schroeder shared with vendors wanting to be in the same spot the following year: sign up at the flea market. The Shriner’s have a booth at the flea market, and Schroeder noted the youth group will sign up and pay for the next year while at the flea market.One downside to the added days of the flea market, Schroeder noted, was that some vendors leave to go to other events, or just need to go back to their regular jobs.“People are coming down to do things on the Fourth of July. I think they need to revamp what they are doing because they are going to lose people if vendors are pulling away early and there was a lot of them who did,” Schroeder said. Next year the event is on July 3-5 (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday), according to Mahaffey and Schroeder noted she is not sure what the youth group will do as many of the volunteers have to work on every day but the Fourth of July.“There were vendors around us thinking the same way,” Schroeder said. “Why are we doing it three days again? Over the weekend, yes, but during the week, no.”Schroeder praised the Shriner’s for their organization and ease of access.“We have always worked well with them, lining things up to get a booth is flawless,” Schroeder said.The Fairbury Journal-News received over two dozen phone calls regarding the flea market the week before and during the flea market. A phone number was not listed on online materials for the flea market, but an email was available as was the option of signing up online.“Though at the moment we’re thinking of adding a phone number to contact, we’ll be sticking with the email as the main source of contact for people to go about getting a spot reserved for future Flea Markets,” Mahaffey said.

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