In 2017, the San Jose Flea Market began exploring ideas of what to add to the existing experience to achieve three goals:

1. Create more opportunities for vendors to sell to a large audience of shoppers.
2. Address any features current attendees wished to see from any future Flea Market projects.
3. Provide a platform for more frequent, exciting programming to take place.

To start this process, San Jose Flea Market conducted a four-month study and research period, involving significant engagement with the existing attendees and vendors at San Jose Flea Market centered on two prominent questions: What do you love about the Flea Market? and What do you wish to see at the Flea Market?

At the end of the study and research period, SJFM collected thousands of data points. The top wishes were night-market style events, more food options and a beer garden experience. The top things people loved were the farmers market, the live music and the strong sense of family tradition.

Taken everything into consideration, the San Jose Flea Market came up with Garden at the Flea, its new addition to the Flea Market grounds. Using aesthetics to hearken back to San Jose’s agricultural “Valley of the Heart’s Delight” aesthetic, Garden at the Flea will first and foremost provide beautiful new green spaces for attendees to enjoy, including an actual garden featuring sustainable California flowers and plants. Additionally, the space will offer a new beer garden experience, a food truck park allowing for both existing food trucks and new food trucks to be a part of Garden at the Flea and an exciting new live performance space with the capacity to host larger scale events.

In total, we believe Garden at the Flea will create new excitement for Flea Market attendees and vendors, allowing existing traditions and experiences to thrive while providing opportunities for new traditions and new experiences to grow!