Swap-meet vendors make a deal to do more business during the OC Fair

Swap meet vendors say that a first-time deal with the Orange County Fair will help them regain lost time.

This year, the fair has set aside space for salespeople from the Orange County Market Place, Costa Mesa’s weekend swap meet, to peddle their goods to the fair-going public.

On weekends, the swap meet takes over the main parking lot at the fairgrounds, but during fair time in the summer it has to shut down. With the fair expanding to five weeks this summer, instead of its usual four, fair vendors complained to the fair board that they would lose valuable time to do business.

The fair responded by creating a “village� full of booths selling food items, home furnishings, jewelry and a variety of knick knacks.

“Four weeks of business interruption is tough and five weeks would have been that much more difficult for them,� said Jeff Teller, the president of the Market Place.

Although some of the fair vendors typically sold goods in individual booths scattered throughout the halls of the fair, this new village will allow vendors that were denied in the past to participate and it will help the swap meet develop name recognition among the large crowds that attend the fair, Teller said.