May 25, 2017 4 min read

What started with a little idea has turned into a two-decades-long tradition and community-wide yard sale stretching for more than three miles. If you’ve never experienced the Fleatique On The Mon, get ready for a unique experience 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 3.

“Every year it seems to grow, grow, grow,” says Dorothea Pemberton, executive director of the Monongahela Area Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event. “People come from Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, Virginia. It’s crazy! Rain or shine, you’ll see thousands of people walking the street here.”

That street is Main Street (Route 88) stretching from New Eagle through Monongahela and into Carroll Township. The combination yard sale/flea market came about when the chamber’s previous director saw a similar event while on vacation. That was 19 years ago, and it gets bigger every year.

“It’s a great event because everyone in the community becomes involved in it,” Pemberton says. “Groups set up informational tables, the churches put stuff out. It’s just phenomenal how a small idea turned into something so wonderful for the community.”

The semiannual event takes place the first Saturday in June and October each year. People who live along the route put out tables of items they’d like to sell, and community groups and churches set up tables as well. Stores routinely put up racks and tables of their wares in front of their shops for buyers to browse. Then there are the flea market vendors and antique dealers who set up shop in a special location. You’ll find crafters, food vendors and antique dealers in Chess Park at Seventh and West Main streets while Third Street is blocked off for flea market vendors.

Antique coin collector Tom Corey knows exactly where his booth will be located – It’s been in the same spot for nearly 10 years near the World War I memorial. “The streets are packed with walkers, and it runs for two or three miles on both sides of Main Street,” Corey says. He’s a member of the Mon Valley Coin Club, which sets up what he calls a penny barrel that gives passersby a chance to win one of the coins on display.

“No true coin collector can walk past four trays of coins without at least slowing down,” Corey laughs. “Once they slow down, I’ve got them!” He enjoys chatting with the people and invites them to the club’s meetings. “It’s a great success for us, and we do get new members from it.”

Corey is also a coin appraiser for the Senator John Heinz History Center and often gets people bringing coins to him at the Fleatique table to find out their value and get recommendations on how to sell them. “I enjoy it,” he says. “I get there at six o’clock in the morning, and I don’t leave until 4 p.m. I stay until the bitter end!”

Dean Sensenich also asks for the same space at each Fleatique – in fact, he often gets two spaces for his flea market wares. “I’m basically retired now and I sell used stuff and some new stuff … whatever’s lying around,” explains the West Newton resident. He used to make a business of flea market sales, hitting them about six or seven weekends each year and selling items on eBay.

“I buy some new stuff and go to yard sales,” he says of his Fleatique stash. “With the yard sale all through town, the whole town is packed. Everyone who lives in town is crazy if they don’t just throw stuff out on tables to get rid of it. You get a lot of people in looking for old stuff and bargains.”

That old stuff is a treasure trove for antique lovers and he says the eastern United States is the best area for antiques. “A lot of people don’t realize this is where you get the old stuff in New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio – where the settlers were. You find older stuff from the 1800s and early 1900s more so than out west.”

Sensenich has been selling goods at the Fleatique for more than a decade and says the key is to arrive early in the morning because some of the vendors pack up early. “It’s a day to get out, have fun and talk to people,” he adds. “The people are really nice, and it’s a friendly town.”

For more information, call the Monongahela Area Chamber of Commerce at 724-258-5919 or visit www.monongahelaareachamber.org.