On Nov. 29, 2024, the annual Holiday Findings Flea Market took place in Downtown Ventura, Calif. Located on Oak St., artists and food vendors come to this yearly event to sell their various goods. The event included many interesting aspects such as live music, funky ceramics, unique foods and a photo booth to mark the memory forever.
Whitney Reed, the owner of the Findings Market, organized the Holiday Findings Flea. She brought everyone together for the event, planned it and worked with the city’s parks and recreation team to pull it together. Items including the photobooth were set up by the Ventura Partners. Artists are contacted from all around the community to then apply to get in and is seen as a very hard event to get into.
Reed described how she set up the event by saying, “We work with the city and work with the parks and recreation team with the city of Ventura … Then we work with downtown Ventura Partners and he helps us coordinate with his team as well for a lot of the operational pieces … We work with local vendors and businesses who join us for the event.”
Most artists at the market found the event to be very welcoming and overall a nice event for creators to come to sell their goods. Most creators saw it as a success for them and the Findings Flea, overall noting that it was a positive experience and event for creators and artists to come to.
Mattea Pilar, an artist at Findings Flea explained her experience of creating her company and how she found Findings Flea, “My business is Monkey Flower Outdoor. I started it a couple of years ago mostly out of boredom. I decided I wanted to learn something new so I learned sewing … I grew up in Ventura County, and I just heard about it word of mouth. The lady that runs it is pretty much an institution … It’s a matter of following them on Instagram and putting myself out and applying for a spot in her market.”
Pilar was selling an array of things such as bags and utensil kits made out of reused materials as she continued, “From what I hear it’s pretty competitive, but I got lucky and I got [a spot] on the first try … I think that people who live here and people that live around here really want to support creative people so it’s always a positive experience.”
The Holiday Findings Flea only comes around once a year to experience all it has to offer, from books and clothes to pottery and food, some local stores participated, including Timbre Books, Clay Parlor and Plant Shop 805. Findings Flea, although crowded at the height of the day, was a great event for the vendors and the shoppers alike.
Jynell Dimalantea described her experience as an artist at Finding Flea stating, “I live downtown, and I go on walks and I remember when Whitney opened Findings Market, and I introduced myself and she had said that she was going to start putting on fairs downtown … And they started to put out applications and calls for artists, and I just started applying for these markets.”
Dimalantea continued, “It’s been amazing. I think what I love most about Findings and Whitney is they have a lot of support in the community and they curate a really beautiful event and there is something for everybody.”
Findings Flea brought the local community of artists together, showing the people of Ventura what creators can make and do. As there are other Finding Market events during the year, there are many opportunities to see all these artists or creators have to offer.
