Sussex offers one-stop shopping with its annual flea market

Giving people a chance to find what they’ve been looking for, and even items that weren’t on the radar, the annual flea market is back this weekend in Sussex, NB.

The three day event kicked off Friday morning and will continue through until Sunday afternoon offering a one stop shopping destination for people from all over the Maritimes.

“They’ve got everything imaginable probably for the last 150 years here. So whatever you want to buy. It’s here,” said Calvin Estey, who was visiting from Fredericton.

By Friday afternoon he and his wife had already made two loads to the car to drop off items.

“I have a wood business so I turned around and seen power saw chains, they’re about half priced compared to the other ones, so I bought a few of those,” he said.

There are about 850 vendors this year with everything from food trucks, to homemade crafts, to antiques.

“Right now we have people here from Alberta. We have venders from P.E.I., Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and as far west as Alberta,” said Steve Clements, the vice chair for the New Brunswick Antique Auto Club Flea Market Committee.

He says while the weekend is dependent on the weather, it isn’t unusual to see upwards of 20,000 people.

“It’s one of those things you just never know. You create something and you hope people like it and over the past, I’m going to say, 20 years is when this has really grown almost exponentially,” he said.

“I like to call this a small party for me and 20,000 of my closest friends.” 

The flea market is open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Sunday.

There is a $5 admission fee for adults and Clements says parking is about $5 as well.

In total, he says if someone were to try and walk by every single vendor it would be about 15 kilometres.

“We get people from all over the place here,” said Victor Williams, who has been apart of the flea market since it originated in 1981.

“Over the years there’s people I’ve seen here for many years, almost 42 years and you get to know them. I don’t necessarily know everybody’s name but I recognize them and we talk.” 

Over the years it has grown both in size and significance.

“I guess over the years it’s turned more into a family gathering I’ll say because we have the same people around,” said Williams.

“My sons were four and one the first year we came here, so they grew up over the years and I just had a text from my son there now, the 43 year old, and he was just wondering what the weather was because he was going to come up.” 

When it first started, the main vendor was automotive parts, but that has changed over the years to include everything and anything.

For Randall Haslett it was the perfect spot to hunt for a very specific item.

“I’m working on a geocache project for the international talk like a pirate day, which is the 19th of September. We’re building a pirate ship out of pallets and other spare wood and I needed a small casket or barrel to be on the deck,” he said.

“I had friends who have contacts in the potato business and I have an old potato barrel but it’s too big when you put it on the ship it looks like it doesn’t belong so I said I need to get a smaller casket and I might have luck if I go to the Sussex flea market and sure enough I saw two or three.” 

Vendor, Gerard Chiasson says he focuses on finding a good price that reflects the region, but is still fair.

It is his second year at the Sussex flea market and his antique cash register was drawing a lot of attention.

“I’ve got old antiques, I like military and naval memorabilia so I try to specialize in that, but that usually goes pretty fast,” said Chiasson.

He’s been antiquing for 25-years now and says being apart of the market provides a sense of community.

“You get to meet other vendors and you know, it’s just a bit of a brotherhood. Second year and I’ve already made contacts that I’ve seen already and you just get to visit, have a laugh,” he said.

Officials say the annual flea market also positively impacts the Town of Sussex with many hotels are booked solid and restaurants and gas stations seeing an increase in traffic.

Adding that it’s an event that people look forward to year after year.

“I still work for a living,” said Clements.

“I take a little bit better than a week off to come here. This is my vacation. This is what I do for fun and this really is a fun event.”

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