NUMC Brings Back Neshanic Flea Market
Neshanic United Methodist Church (NUMC), located across the street from the Neshanic post office, brought back the Neshanic Flea Market on Saturdays from 6:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
The old Neshanic Flea Market, held at the foot of the Neshanic station bridge, operated for about 20 years on Sunday mornings. The flea market was popular for many years and usually recieved a lot of vendors and shoppers. The family that owned the land and ran the flea market sold their property and moved away about two years ago.
NUMC was involved in the old flea market, as they had a table to provide information about the church and collect money and food donations for Somerset County Food Bank. This past year, a few church members had the idea to reopen the flea market to raise money for the church and raise the church’s profile.
The new flea market is located across the street from the old market’s grounds, where the Neshanic volunteer fire company owns eight acres of land. The fire company agreed to let NUMC use the land.
The church launched the flea market on June 8. Alec Schibanoff, a NUMC member and one of the organizers of the new flea market, said they were able to get a lot of past vendors to come back. Schibanoff said they’ve been getting between 30 and 40 vendors and a steady stream of shoppers every week since opening.
NUMC offers the church’s restrooms for people to use and they sell food and beverages at the church.
He said they believe this new venture can produce a nice income stream while also giving the church a higher profile in the community. The market has not affected the church’s Sunday turn out yet, but Schibanoff hopes it will. He said the church knows it is a long term investment and is convinced that it will pay off.
“We’re very excited. We got off to a strong start. We have vendors and shoppers. We have a google listing . We have a yelp listing and various other flea markets and yard sale directories. We’re very visible,” he said.
Photos: Courtesy of Alec Schibanoff
Schibanoff said everybody in the church has been involved with the project. From a former fire chief asking the fire company to use their land, to a member putting the web page together, to people opening the church on Saturday mornings, and congregation members volunteering to help at the actual market.
In the future, Schibanoff said they are interested in reaching out to other nonprofits and inviting them to take advantage of the flea market. He said they would offer them spots at the market at no charge. Schibanoff said they also hope to have more fruit and vegetable vendors as the summer goes on.
The market opened late this year because the idea came about late in the spring, but in the future, Schibanoff said they would like to open the market from April through October, weather permitting.
Anyone who is interested in being a vendor can go to the NUMC website and send an email neshanic@fleamarket.org saying that they are coming. Vendor spots are given out on a first come first serve basis.
If there is a chance of bad weather, the organizers make a decision about holding the flea market on friday afternoons and send an email to their vendor list. Shoppers should check the market’s google listing to see if it is being held.
Photos: Courtesy of Alec Schibanoff