Iconic St. Regis Memorial Day flea market canceled by COVID

Memorial Day weekend in St. Regis, Montana means traffic backing up at its four-way stop in what is usually a sleepy little town. It means kettle corn and concession stand burgers.

The weather is predictably a mix of sunshine and spring showers while throngs of people scour the community park for trinkets, treasures, and deals. Shoppers mingle and locals catch up with friends.

Montana’s largest flea market has been canceled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In what would have been its 44th occurrence social distancing directives forced the St. Regis Community Council to make the heartbreaking decision to pull the plug on this year’s gathering.

“We figured it just wouldn’t be acceptable for most everyone, to have hordes of people coming into our small town during this time,” community council secretary Glenn Koepke said.

For nearly 20 years Koepke has assisted in almost every aspect of the weekend, coordinating parking, directing traffic, security in the park, picking up trash, helping dealers with set up and tear down.

He added, “Vendors were afraid to come out and be in the crowds, it’s not good idea to be attracting lots of people from all over Washington, Idaho and other states.”

The Council met April 28 under a difficult but unanimous agreement to cancel this year’s festivities that typically draws close to 200 vendors from states all across the West. For many it has become a summer kick-off tradition to come hunt for bargains at the annual Flea Market that started back in the mid-1970s.

For 10 years Anita Bailey has coordinated the planning committee. Almost year-round she has contact with vendors, some who are regulars lay claim to booth spaces months in advance.

“For weeks now local and out of state vendors had been contacting me, asking what we planned on doing,” Bailey said. “The council debated in the early weeks of April to re-schedule it for later in the year but there were several concerns expressed. There would be a host of complications in moving such a huge event, resulting in a poor turn out and unavailability from usual volunteers.

For vendors the Community Council treasurer will be sending out refund checks the week of May 11. Sellers have the option of rolling over site fees for next year’s event. Bailey anticipates being very busy the next several weeks being in contact vendors after the initial cancelation notice was sent out April 29.

Overall response to the choice has been sympathetic, according to Bailey.

“Everybody feels bad. We’re all going to miss it. But most have said they understand why we have to cancel. A few people said it’s a big mistake,” Bailey said.

The economic impact of not hosting the annual gathering will also be sorely felt in the local businesses who would usually see increased traffic in their stores, restaurants, lodging and campgrounds. Financially the annual Flea Market provided the St. Regis Community Council with much of its funding each year. Koepke stated, “This was our main fundraiser, so we’ll have to limp by.”

Profits from Memorial weekend go toward running the community center and maintaining it. It also benefits community events on July 4 such as the parade and children’s carnival. Scholarships for St. Regis graduates are furnished through the flea market, as well as community dances, dinners and holiday decorating contests.

Although faced with much disappointment Koepke is not one to dwell on it.

“We’ll focus on getting the park tuned up and work on the community center over the summer,” Koepke said.

Bailey shared, “I think the week of will be really weird. Not seeing the volunteers, some I don’t see except once a year. It’s just such a fun time and festival type atmosphere.”

For now, she is helping with advertising regarding the cancelation and sharing the group’s updated website at https://stregismtflea.org/ to notify visitors who regularly attend as well.