The Mancos Flea Market closed Saturday and will be on an indefinite hiatus, unless a new location can be found.
"Everybody is very disappointed it's closing," organizer Queenie Barz said.
She has been looking for a new home for the market, but so far she hasn't found a suitable location.
"I am not giving up hope that eventually something will become available and we can open up again,"she said.
The building at 192 South Main will host activities during the upcoming balloon festival, but nothing will be moving in afterward right away. The owner is working to sell the building.
The year-round market opened in October 2012 and was particularly popular with locals in the winter.
"On snowy days, it gave people a place to go, that was warm and things were reasonable with a wide variety of items," Barz said.
It also drew in tourists from the highway and regulars from Blanding, Monticello, Farmington, Bloomfield, Durango and Pagosa, she said.
Vendor Rich Sousanes said that his cactuses and succulents had been taken home to about 17 states and Quebec.
"I got to meet a lot of interesting people," he said.
Sousanes will be moving his hobby business to an outdoor market in Durango.
Another one of the group of about 15 vendors, Tres Hamilton has a passion for auctions and was able to find an outlet for her inventory at the market. She also became close with the other merchants.
"It's been just like a family," she said.
Vendor and shopper Lorriane Becker said she appreciated that the market cut down on the throw away attitude pervasive in our society and was very pleased when she found a vegetable bin she had been looking to buy for about five years at the market.
"You never know what you're going to find," she said.
Barz is hopeful that closure will not be forever, but said the market will not find the same floor space anywhere else in Mancos.
mshinn@cortezjournal.com
