Sacramento’s under-the-freeway antique fair moved for a Caltrans project. What’s next?

Sacramento Antique Faire has called the parking lot of the now-demolished Sleep Train Arena its home for more than a year, but that could all change in November — or not.

The monthly fair was shuffled out of its 16-year midtown location beneath Highway 50 at 21st and X streets in 2021 to make room for the the years-long construction project, which stretches from the Interstate 5 Interchange to Watt Avenue. Construction is scheduled to be completed by 2025, but the work up to 29th St. could be completed by November, giving the Sacramento Antique Faire the green light to move back underneath the highway.

Its current location is 1 Sports Parkway in Natomas.

The more than $400 million construction project of Highway 50 began in March 2021, pushing out residents’ weekend spots, including the Sunday Certified Farmers’ Market at W and 8th streets, in an effort to reduce traffic congestion, improve mobility and repair lanes.

“There is a possibility that the antique fair could get in after Thanksgiving but the farmers’ market is at a different bridge, so the schedules are not related to each other,” said spokeswoman Angela DaPrato with the California Department of Transportation.

The Sacramento Antique Faire posted to its Facebook page Aug. 8 with a location update for its patrons, noting the soonest the market will be able to move back under the freeway is November because of construction delays.

“Yes, it has been probably longer than we were originally told but not in a way that’s been inappropriate, just that they kind of had to let the project unfold and see what they were going to be faced with,” said Marylon Rose, owner and operator of the Sacramento Antique Faire. “I just have to be flexible to that.”

The 18-year old antiques and collectibles market, which hosts more than 300 vendors on the second Sunday of every month, put on its last show underneath the overpass in midtown in March 2021.

After a failed attempt to secure a spot at the Department of Motor Vehicles on Broadway the fair moved to Sleep Train Arena, the Sacramento Kings’ former home, in time for its June 2021 show, which is where it’s been operating ever since.

“This is not an easy time for anyone with all that’s going on with the pandemic and (the Kings) really availed their property to our operation and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to them,” she said.

The split in location preference

The plan has always been to get back to the freeway, especially since the lease to operate there is active through 2025, Rose said.

“Sleep Train has been our home away from home but we’ve been under the freeway at 21st and X for 16 of the 18 years so it’s definitely home,” she said.

Some patrons are counting down the days the fair moves back to midtown. Others want Rose to make Sleep Train Arena the fair’s permanent location, noting the original location poses safety concerns and is home to a rising homeless population.

“I think the homeless issue near the fair has created a lot of commentary and I have been talking to the city relative to that issue because we want to make sure that we are doing every possible thing we can do to provide a safe and clean environment,” Rose said.

Sleep Train Arena was demolished Aug. 9, five days before the fair’s Sunday show, prompting a short Facebook post to remind patrons that the fair would still go on. The now demolished Sleep train Arena, which also hosted concerts and events for nearly three decades, will eventually be transformed into a hospital complex, rows of homes, parks and a school, The Bee previously reported.

The Sacramento Antique Faire will hold its September and October shows in the parking lot of the now demolished Sleep Train Arena.

This story was originally published August 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM.