A steady stream of customers was already making its way onto the various lots early Sunday morning as the Pasadena City College Flea Market reopened for business after a nearly two-year pandemic hiatus.
“We are so excited to be here for our grand reopening,” said PCC Flea Market Coordinator Lindsey Reed. “We have been shut down since March of 2020. So now in December 2021, we are back. It’s the same market, same vendors. We’re just in a new location.”
The market is now entirely on the west side of the PCC campus on Hill Street, between Colorado and Del Mar Boulevard, and according to Reed, 450 vendors were on hand for Sunday’s reopening, across three campus parking lots.
Tom Selinske who, as a PCC student, founded the market along with his brother in 1979, was also happily on hand for the reopening.
Standing in the north parking lot at Colorado and Hill, Selinske recalled, “When I was a student here involved with student government we experimented with a concept down on the south side tennis courts, at the old football field. And then in 1979 with my brother, we started the first market here in this lot with 30 vendors that my brother and I went out and hustled at swap meets and flea markets, to come participate here, and to buy a space, and to support students.
“The great thing about this market” he continued, “is that the purpose has always been to support student scholarships and student activities.”
Prior to the pandemic, according to Selinske, the market was generating over $150,000 a year for scholarships and student activities, one of the biggest contributors of funds for students at the college.
“The primary thing,” he said, “is that if you want to help students, come down here, be a vendor, or be a buyer to support the vendors, and that will help support students. And it’s a great way to spend the day and recreate as well.”
Because of the New Year’s Day Holiday, there will not be a market for January 2022, but it will return February 5, 2022 and be held the first Sunday of every month, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Pasadena City College Campus. Admission is free, and masks are required.
More information on the PCC Flea Market is available here.
