Midwest Vintage Flea FAQ
General Attendee FAQ
When and where is Midwest Vintage Flea? Is it free to the public?
Midwest Vintage Flea Spring 2025 is Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11, 2025. The 2-day event will be hosted at Garver Feed Mill (3241 Garver Green, Madison, WI 53704 garverfeedmill.com). General admission is free. Doors open to the public on Saturday at 11AM til 6PM, and again on Sunday 10AM til 4PM.
What is Midwest Vintage Flea?
Midwest Vintage Flea is Wisconsin’s premier vintage fashion trade show since its founding in 2016. The free event happens twice a year, Spring and Fall, and has made residency at Garver Feed Mill since 2021. The show selects a mix of 45 prominent and emerging applicants in the field, and facilitates a 2-day indoor elevated shopping event on Saturday and Sunday with music, courtesy staff, and food & beverage. The event is a production of Good Style Shop, LLC, a vintage clothing store on Madison’s isthmus.
How does it work? How do I buy things?
Like a traditional flea market, Midwest Vintage Flea is composed of individual vendors with their own individual points-of-sale or cash exchanges. If you want to purchase an item from booth #3, simply return to the booth’s attendee and pay the person at both #3 directly. All our vendors are required to mark their individual tags with their branding / namesake for easy shopping. If you can’t determine which booth your desired purchase originated, any of our Midwest Vintage Flea staffers will assist you.
Can I try anything on?
Absolutely yes. Since the beginning, Midwest Vintage Flea prides itself on providing full-service fitting rooms easily found on your map. There are 6 complete fitting rooms, with a limit of 8 articles in a booth at once. This helps us keep the lines orderly and customers satisfied with wait times. If anything doesn’t fit, just leave the garment on the return rack and our staff will return the item to the appropriate vendor. If anything gets damaged, there is no cost to you as we have rules and expectations posted for all attendees. We believe trying on vintage is part of making a confident choice!
What payments do you accept?
As of 2023, we require all our vendors to accept cash and credit. As for cash transfer apps (Venmo, CashApp, etc), these forms of payment will vary from vendor to vendor. However, event ownership will be streamlining vendor requirements in future events.
Can I return anything?
All sales are final unless otherwise explicitly stated directly by the individual vendor.
How do I get advanced access?
We offer 50 “early bird” tickets for attendees willing to purchase $20 advance tickets for exclusive shopping one hour ahead of general admission. Early Bird access is Saturday, April 20th 10AM to 11AM. Early Bird access is limited to 50 tickets and strictly enforced, meaning no one without registration and proof of purchase (hand stamp) is admitted.
Vendor FAQ
How do I apply?
Applying to Midwest Vintage Flea is as simple as filling out this form. The 3-week application rounds are open generally 9 weeks (~3 months) ahead of the bi-annual event. Midwest Vintage Flea Spring 2024 admission rounds are open January 22, 2024 - February 9, 2024.
How do you determine who is accepted?
Midwest Vintage Flea maintains the gold-standard of vintage clothing trade events by making new friends and treasuring the old. With very rare exceptions, Midwest Vintage Flea will provide first notice and consideration to any vendor who has previously successfully attended our show. Because of our attendance levels, staffing, marketing campaigns, and position in the marketplace of vintage events, we have a significant retention rate of returning participants. While providing that level of service is a strength, it has caused us to initiate a selection process designed to incorporate at least 25% of first-time vendors for each event. We believe this process adequately balances demands of hundreds of new applicants and thousands of returning customers.
Okay, I filled out my application. Now what?
Midwest Vintage Flea emails accepted vendors about one month after application rounds open, and one week after application rounds close. For Midwest Vintage Flea Spring 2024, we will notify all applicants of their admittance status on Friday, February 16, 2024. If you are accepted, we will ask for a commitment of attendance in order to publish the final roster. If you are considered on stand-by, we will ask you to consider leaving the event dates open for potential attendance. If you are not accepted in either case, we will respond as courteously and promptly as possible.
What if I don’t get in? Any advice for next time?
Stay persistent. We have accepted second- and third-time returning applicants despite having limited supply at first pass. We strongly encourage new and first-time vintage vendors to apply to this event, because freshness is key at this market. Your unique point-of-view and unmatched style made you a vintage clothing dealer in the first place; a market event status is not a value judgment on your talent.
We offer “stand-by” status to a number of vendors who will be noticed in the event of last-minute booth availability. If you are willing to accept stand-by conditions, you will be invited to attend no later than 2 weeks ahead of the event. We understand that last-minute timeline is tricky, as is filling in any unexpected gaps in inventory on our end.
What is the fee and how is that used?
Midwest Vintage Flea will lock its 2024 rates at $400 per 10x10 booth.
Here’s what you’ll receive for your investment.
- Unmatched foot traffic of over 1,500 visitors daily, with targeted vintage clothing shoppers from the Madison-Milwaukee Wisconsin market and surrounding Midwestern metro markets. We invest in social media and legacy marketing, as well as partnering with tourism organizations for maximum exposure. We ship event promotional materials to participants.
- A secure, clean, indoor venue with full-service restaurants, bar, and reliable Wi-Fi access.
- Event staff of 5 dedicated attendants to provide greeting, way finding, fitting room attendance, and set-up / load-out assistance for all vendors. Also, Garver Feed Mill has dedicated event coordinators on call for janitorial, security, and building accommodations.
- Overnight in-venue storage, secured in place between Saturday and Sunday.
- Ample load-in space and a non-rushed experience at event close.
- Dedicated follow-up on experience and ensured free shipping / delivery on articles left behind.
- Early notice of future dates and space reservations for future events.
Where should I stay in Madison? Any tips?
This event has grown considerably since we were able to house attendees ourselves! We recommend booking overnight accommodations within days of your accepting your admission. Madison has adequate hotel inventory for our Fall events, less so for our Spring events due to graduation events all over the city. Rest assured that your product will be securely stored over Saturday night.
What are other important issues I should be aware of ahead of my admission?
You will receive a “vendor packet” in an email about 10 days before the event. That explains load-in and load-out procedures and maps. We call this the soup-to-nuts packet, because it includes anything you’ll need to know just ahead of the event. We will always elaborate on any part of the event one-on-one, too. Email midwestvintageflea@gmail.com
Midwest Vintage Flea ℅ Good Style Shop, LLC is not liable for damage or theft of property. We are constantly improving ways to ensure trust among our vendors and the public at large (attended fitting rooms, monitored ingress, constant contact), though we cannot guarantee an absolute zero occurrence of dishonest customer behavior.
As a vendor, be ensured Midwest Vintage Flea has an ongoing commitment to service. It is in our shared interest that MVF is a safe, inclusive and inviting environment to attendees, vendors, and staff. An integral part of this commitment is communication and expectation. Please expect that we will communicate to the our absolute best of our ability in regards to your needs as a business owner and a member of the “MVF alumni” network of vendors.