If you can’t find the interesting and the unusual at the Webster Westside Flea Market, then you’re just not looking.
From a hog scraper, to a candlestick telephone, to a pair of 1950s roller skates with a key — the little flea market in rural Webster is a find all in itself.
(Fred Bellet/Photos)
In the pre-dawn hours, vendors arrive with their wares loaded in vans, pick-up trucks and car trunks stuffed to the max.
Then, they get to work setting up.
Some spread their trinkets out atop folding tables in the open air. Other arrange their items on rustic tables under covered sheds. Some scatter their goods on a plot of ground that is theirs for a day.
The ritual is the same every Monday, the only day of the week the market is open.
In winter — when the snowbird residents from up north migrate south — as many as 800 vendors stream in each Monday. Things slow down a bit in the summer season when the snowbirds reverse course. But, even then, 400 to 500 vendors unpack their goods at Webster.
With a 5 a.m., start time in winter, flashlights often light the way through rows and rows of vendors.
Bimmie Walters started out with a cardboard box of stuff that went unsold at her yard sale in Tampa. A friend suggested she take the box – probably some pottery knickknacks – and try Webster.
“I sold everything in the box,” Walters said.
That was 35 years ago.
“I fell into it,” she confessed.
And, now she and her husband, Ray Walters, are regulars at their permanent spot under a shed.
Webster can be as much about friendship as it is about sales.
Customers, especially the temporary snowbirds, stop by to get reacquainted.
“They expect to see you here,” she said.
Sometimes, Webster is about the thrill of the hunt.
There are things that one might expect: Picture frames, quilts, vintage clothes and Florida’s traditional pink flamingos.
And, there are less expected finds: A talking Pee-Wee Herman in his original box; a Grand Ole Opry Country Rose Barbie, collector’s edition, also in her box; and, a candlestick phone from 1915.
There are also doorknobs; buttons galore; a two-seater bicycle; a 1948 yearbook for Bowling Green State University; clip-on earrings; a Brownie camera; and, a photographer’s flash pan.
And, that’s just to mention a smattering of the types of items to be found at the Webster Westside Flea Market.
Anthony and Amy Ray hung around on Monday after a motorcycle swap meet at the market site on Sunday.
“It’s something to do,” said Amy Ray, who lives in Edison, New Jersey. “You don’t spend much money. You walk around.”
Her husband searched for lanterns, fishing gear and thermometers.
“I like hunting for stuff and looking for good deals,” he said. And, he added, “I like talking with people.”
The New Jersey residents weren’t alone in finding Webster. Vehicles in the parking lots sport tags from nearby Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties — and from as far away as Ohio, Arkansas, New York and Michigan.
The little market with the big-time reputation got its start in the 1930s as a farmers’ market. Blue laws prohibited Sunday sales, so farmers came on Mondays.
Over the years, people added arts and crafts, collectibles and antiques.
Webster’s Westside Flea Market officially got its name in the 1960s. There is an East Side Market that is smaller, but it is owned and operated separately.
Alice Cushman and her late husband became owners of Webster’s Westside in 1992.
“We were looking for a good retirement nest,” said Cushman.
The site in total is 80 acres, with Westside claiming about 35 acres. But, there is room to add more vendor locations, Cushman said.
Over the years, she said, “It has grown like an old house.”
On weekends, the site is opened for a car and motorcycle show/swap meet. It is the largest monthly vehicle show in Florida, Cushman said.
A leather auction and a circus also drew crowds to the site on a recent weekend. Both could become annual events.
In Homosassa, Cushman owns Howards Flea Market, which is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The growth boom in new housing is changing the makeup of shoppers, with more snowbirds becoming permanent residents, Cushman said.
“We’re benefiting from that,” she added.
Robert Borton owns a home in Zephyrhills, but also spends time in his native Michigan. In his spare time, he made birdhouses as a hobby, and now he gets creative with lamp shades made from colanders.
He is a six-year vendor at Webster.
“It gives me something to do while I’m here,” he said.
Apopka residents Nancy and Shawn Brennan are longtime snowbirds, but had never visited Webster until recently.
“We just never took off on a Monday,” said Nancy Brennan, who glammed before a mirror trying on an old-style pair of sun glasses. “I had friends who talked highly of it. We’re just looking for the interesting and unusual.”
Gail Walker looks for hard-to-find books, especially on the British royal family.
“I’m hooked on the royals,” she said.
Harvey Finkle is an optician on most weekdays, but Webster vendor on Mondays. His mother gave him a taste for antiques and collectibles when she ran estate sales in the mid-1960s.
“I always helped her out as a kid,” he said.
He sells old toys, vinyl records, mostly from the 1960s, and optical equipment from the 1940s. Among his finds were a lens-o-meter and trial lens set.
“I do this for fun,” Finkle said. “I meet a lot of interesting people.”
Shopping at Webster is a 15-year pastime for snowbird resident, Sandy Probst, and an obsession for her husband, Lester. “He will not go anywhere, except to play golf before he comes here,” she said.
What: Webster Westside Flea Market
Where: 516 NW Third St., in Webster
When: On Mondays, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., in October through April; and from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., May through September
Cost: Admission is free.
For more information, call (352) 793-9877 or (800) 832-7396, or visit WebsterWestsideFleaMarket.com.
Published February 17, 2016
