For two Saturdays in the fall of 2009, a vacant parking lot in the Fenton Street Village area of downtown Silver Spring was transformed into a small-business epicenter. Local artists, craftspeople, collectors, and entrepreneurs exhibited their wares, and shoppers swarmed the street. The experiment was the brainchild of local resident Hannah McCann, who knew that there was a funkier side to her neighborhood just waiting to shine, given the right venue.

Local residents, business owners, and politicians agreed. With the support of the D.C.-based nonprofit Latino Economic Development Corporation and Downtown Silver Spring, McCann signed on manager Debbie Lee, the local dynamo behind Silver Spring’s own Rock-n-Romp and Handmade Mart. Assistant manager Jessica Blaszczak, the force behind the Ballston Arts & Crafts Market, soon joined the fold, along with four early-rising local teenagers who work as porters on Saturday mornings. The new season debuted April 17, 2010, and runs weekly on Saturdays through October.

The market is held every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of Fenton Street and Silver Spring Avenue (click for map) in downtown Silver Spring, rain or shine. Free parking is available in public lots across Fenton Street.

Photo by Alan Bowser