Stephanie Allred
A vendor dressed up as the Grinch shows off some of his wares at the Plant City Farm & Flea Market
Plant City Farm & Flea Market has announced that it will offer free vending spots to all weekend vendors until February 2022.
The move comes as the farm and market—located at 708 W Sam Allen Rd.—saw an influx of vendors over the past several weeks. Over 100 new vendors flocked there when Tampa's iconic Fun-Lan Drive-In and Swap Shop closed its doors on Dec. 5.
After the vendors overwhelmed Plant City flea market's usual Wednesday hours, the decades old market decided to open on Saturday and Sundays for the first time ever and to only charge a "pay what you can" fare to the vendors.
Now, the farm and market is offering free vending spaces to weekend vendors until February. The market—founded in 1978—will still charge $10-$15 for a spot during its usual Wednesday markets.
Stephanie Allred, whose family operates the flea market, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that what they really need more shoppers to show up to match the amount of vendors the market now has on the weekends. She added that in February, Plant City Flea Market will reassess the situation to see if a weekend market is viable.
There are 600 vendor spaces at the flea market, and no pre-registration will be required for vendors who wish to attend.
The gates for the flea market open at 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Vendors can arrive at 6 a.m. They'll close when the last vendors leave in the afternoon.
This past Sunday, they had 137 vendors show up. On top of the free spaces, Allred said that her father Ferris also gave every vendor that came out a $5 bill, as a Christmas bonus.
More than anything, the family just wants to help those who need help after having to leave Fun-Lan last minute, and they've also expressed interest in hiring former employees of Fun-Lan.
