West Alum Bodie Williamson ‘22 sells prints, postcards, stickers and shirts with his original artwork on them. 

“[I’ve been selling at the flea market] for probably around four years. I’ve been doing this since high school.”

One of Williamson’s favorite parts about selling at the flea market is how fun it is.

“It’s a great side hustle for me as an artist. I just love bringing smiles to people’s faces. It’s super fun when you get someone that’s really excited to have your art in their house.”

Many booths were selling vintage or second hand clothes at the flea market. Midwest Buffet, ran by Emily, has been selling at the flea market since it began in 2022. 

Emily chooses to source her vintage clothes from outside of Iowa City, to bring in things that are from outside the area. 

“A lot of the sourcing I do, [is] out of town and all over Iowa. I believe that I’m providing a service and I want to bring things that are from outside of here to people that live here,” Emily said.  

Midwest Buffet isn’t Emily’s first way of selling vintage clothes. She has been sourcing and selling vintage for over 20 years in the Iowa City area. 

“I used to stock a shop downtown called White Rabbit for 15 years until they closed. After they closed, this was my way of still being able to treasure hunt and source and bring things to people who love vintage,” Emily said. 

One of Emily’s favorite parts of selling vintage is seeing people interact with the clothing she picked out.

“Talking to people who like the things I like the things I like, listening to people comment what they like or why they like something and guessing what they’re going to buy. When they do pick that thing up, it is my joy,” Emily said.

Finding customers will come with time and experience. Instead of worrying about finding what works for everyone, Emily suggests to buy what you like, because ultimately it’s yours if you don’t sell it. 

“The best way to enjoy it is to buy the things that you like and your customers will find you and you can be as excited as they are,” Emily said. 

The flea market featured many different types of art and artists. One of the booths had prints, made by Riley of Rib-Arts and Atlas of Inked by Atlas. 

They are both print makers at the University of Iowa. They sell fine art prints, stickers, zines and hand thrown ceramics. Most of everything they sell is handmade prints by several different types of print. 

Atlas has been selling at the flea market for two years, and Riley joined a year after. 

“It’s easier sharing the booth  as smaller artists. it’s a great way to get your name out there and spread your art around in a nice way,” Riley said. 

Both are also working on making websites to share their art when the flea market is not in season. 

One of Riley and Atlas’s favorite part of the flea market is the support and community that forms over time. 

“You get to know your booth neighbors. We know all of the artists that set up booths here. We’ve traded art with a lot of these people. It’s really nice to know your community, especially the artists, and it’s really nice to know that there’s so many people who are willing to pay for a smaller artist as well,” Atlas said.

Besides art and vintage clothes, there were also booths selling handmade items such as crochet, embroidery and paintings.

Liv Allen runs her booth, Commission by Liv. She sells lots of different homemade pieces, such as crochet, embroidery, handmade rugs and paintings. 

“I was looking for an outlet to slow down when life felt really busy. I started teaching myself on YouTube after one of my friends crocheted,” Allen said. 

Allen began selling her items at the flea market last year. 

“[My favorite part of the flea market] is watching people come up to your booth and seeing how a piece you’ve made can fit into their life and watching their eyes light up. It’s exciting.” Allen said.