Pasco Flea Market – A Family Affair

By Mari Page
tú Decides Correspondent

The Pasco Flea Market was started in 1987 by Bill Robinson to pay his way through college. Bill was attending WSU and came home on the weekends to run the flea market. Over 20 years later it is still going strong with the help of Bill’s son. They say like father, like son: Kyle Robinson, a 19 year-old student at WSU, comes home on the weekends to run the flea market for his father from 9 am to 4 pm on Saturdays. The Pasco Flea Market is truly a family affair.

On Saturday the flea market is a free open-air market for the community: free parking, free vendor space and free entrance. It is the cheapest entertainment for a family to do together. Currently, the Pasco Flea Market is the largest open air market in the state of Washington. Vendors come from Spokane, Yakima, Seattle, Hermiston and Walla Walla.

The market is an incubator for small businesses. Someone interested in opening a restaurant can start off here to see if their ideas are well received. A business can have five to ten thousand people see their product in one weekend. Based on feedback from the customers, the owner can change a few things to make it better for his or her clients before investing thousands into the business.

Anything you can buy at the mall you can buy here at a much cheaper price because the vendors have very little overhead costs, so they pass that savings onto you, the customer. In addition to clothing and DVDs you can get fruit and food. There are, on average, 40 food vendors at the Pasco Flea Market- so you and your family won’t go hungry.

The Pasco Flea Market is open from Saturday March 5 to December 1st, and there are new vendors and new items every week. With an average of 200 vendors there is always something for everyone. You can find the Pasco Flea Market at Lewis Street & Hwy. 12.