Thrift Fest brings goods at a discount to Main Street

Thrift Fest will bring deals, food, and fun to McPherson this Saturday, Sept. 12, while supporting The Ark, its vendors, and downtown businesses.

Ben Coffey, owner of The Ark, said the fest has helped to draw people downtown in the past.

“One of the cool things that we heard from our Thrift Fest in March was that several restaurants and coffee shops downtown up and down Main Street had the best day they ever had in their existence,” Coffey said. “So that feels pretty special to be able to create that.”

The event is akin to a garage sale, with everything sold at discount prices.

“It’s not supposed to be 5-dollar stuff for 5 dollars; it’s supposed to be 25-dollar stuff for 5 dollars and 7-dollar stuff for a dollar or two,” Coffey said.

The Ark will also run its own sales inside the store, and food will be available during the event.

“There will be a full food court on the south side of the building on our private property, but the entire street on Sutherland will be shut down for us. It will be available for five dollars or less,” Coffey said.

The Ark charges a single fee to each vendor, but vendors keep the profits they make.

“We call it Black Friday for thrifting,” Coffey said.

Thrift Fest is also a family-and-friends event where people come to shop and have fun together.

“A lot of people either come with their girlfriends and shop, you know, with a bunch of gals,” Coffey said. “You see dads carrying kids through the crowd as they’re buying stuff. It’s just a fun, fun, fun event.”

For many vendors, Thrift Fest is a chance to sell items that have not sold in their booths at a discount.

“So for a lot of our vendors, if they’ve had stuff in their booth marked up and it’s just not selling in their space, they bring it out there and sell it at a deep discount,” Coffey said. “It’s not just a bunch of junk; it’s supposed to be good stuff. The vendor gets what they need, the store gets what it needs, and the customer has a blast.”

Coffey said the event benefits The Ark, its vendors, and the McPherson community.

“It puts a lot of money back in the town of McPherson. McPherson has been very supportive and generous with us, and we hope to return that favor,” Coffey said.

Coffey said Thrift Fest is also a good business decision for The Ark because it brings in so many people.

“For us, there is a financial incentive to sell the space, and a lot of those people come inside your store,” Coffey said. “If you can take a normal Saturday of 200 to 600 people and then add two to three thousand to your door count, that makes for a very busy day inside, in addition to outside. It’s a good business decision for us.”

Tickets are available online or at the gate, but Coffey encourages people to buy them early.

“Even if they haven’t purchased a ticket online, I would suggest they do it sooner rather than later,” Coffey said. “You can buy tickets online that day, and you get a QR code on your phone, and you essentially get to skip the line, because if you buy a ticket that day, you wait in line to buy a ticket and you wait in line to enter, it’s kind of like a queue system.”

Thrift Fest will open to general admission at 10 a.m. and go until 1 p.m. at 301 S. Main St. You can buy GA tickets for $3 beforehand and learn more about the event here.

This article was made possible by the Citizen Journal Foundation, which aims to make public interest reporting accessible to all.

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