Vendors, shoppers rejoice as swap meets return to O.C. fairgrounds under new operator
Vendors, shoppers and collectors had reason to celebrate Saturday as a long-shuttered corner lot of the O.C. fairgrounds in Costa Mesa transformed into a scene of thriving commerce during the debut of the “Original O.C. Swap Meet.”
More than 3,500 people turned out to peruse goods on display from nearly 80 area vendors, some of whom have been barely subsisting during the pandemic as bans on outdoor gatherings stretched longer than a full year.
It was a welcome reprieve after a long drought, said Fountain Valley vendor Kim Garibay, whose family has been selling licensed sports merchandise and memorabilia at the fairgrounds since 1976.
“We had a line of at least 200 people to get in when we opened up,” Garibay said of Saturday’s attendance. “It was like Christmas traffic — much more successful than we thought it would be.”
Despite its name, the event is entirely new and organized by a former employee of the O.C. Market Place, where vendors have peddled products since 1969.
David “D.L.” Sesena started working the event as a weekend parking lot attendant in 2002. As a transient workforce came and went, he was promoted to supervisor, then manager, of the department and eventually became operations manager in 2008.
Sesena came to feel a kinship among his co-workers, vendors and the customers who came to the O.C. Market Place week after week, even as the event’s popularity began to wane.
“I just felt an attachment to it,” Sesena recalled Tuesday. “Sometimes, you stay at a job because you love it.”
Meanwhile, ownership of the Market Place changed hands, shifting in 2016 from the family-owned Tel Phil to corporate food service and hospitality business Spectra, which inked an eight-year deal with the OC Fair & Event Center that would not come to fruition.
When the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of the O.C. Market Place in March 2020, Sesena and nearly 100 other employees were laid off or let go.
Spectra claimed pandemic hardship and attempted to get out of its lease with OCFEC, even as restrictions eased and allowed swap meets to return. The two parties have been engaged in a legal battle over a possible breach of contract ever since.
Not content to sit and collect unemployment checks, Sesena began looking into hosting possibly monthly events that would provide a lifeline to out-of-work vendors, while giving members of an increasingly clamorous public something to do.
He talked with OCFEC Chief Executive Michele Richards and decided to organize two stand alone events, one on Saturday and a second event on June 19.
Sesena’s girlfriend, brother and sister-in-law helped him raise funds to lease the space and provide the equipment to make it all happen, and a handful of friends and family members came out Saturday to help make sure things ran smoothly.
“It was a family thing, for sure,” he said Tuesday.
By all estimates, Sesena’s hard work paid off. Richards said in an email Tuesday OCFEC officials are happy to welcome vendors back to the fairgrounds.
“It is important to give small businesses the chance to grow, and we are proud to help launch local entrepreneurs and provide the community with great shopping opportunities,” she wrote.
Tustin resident Howard Andersen, owner of Howie’s Arizona Jacks Beef Jerky since 2000, said every customer who came to his booth Saturday was thrilled to be back out at the swap meet.
“Even right now, it brings tears to my eyes that we had a good turnout,” Andersen said Tuesday. “This coronavirus has bulldozed small businesses, and the last year and a half has been very tough.”
Andersen was able to collect unemployment, offered by the federal government to self-employed Americans during the pandemic, and took out a small business loan to help make ends meet.
Seeing customers line up for the swap meet gave Andersen hope that, as more events come online in the months ahead, the business he’s built for the past 20 years may yet survive.
To help ensure the success of Sesena’s venture, he’s already paid to rent a booth at the June 19 Original O.C. Swap Meet — in fact, he paid for two spaces, even though he only needs one, and encourages other vendors to do the same.
“David has poured his heart and soul into this,” Andersen said. “[And] when people care, you help them.”
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