By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com

When Steve and Melinda Fishpaw purchased Al Smith’s Place at auction, they weren’t exactly sure what the future held in store for the iconic Bucyrus landmark. While the future is still up in the air, the present has been determined for the former restaurant and motel: it’s now home to a flea market.

“We bought this without any idea of what we were going to do with it. It’s kind of a Bucyrus icon,” said Melinda with a laugh. “People were telling us Bucyrus needs more restaurants and a flea market. We thought, ‘Yeah, we can do a flea market.’”

The Fishpaws have already had one weekend flea market back in May and are holding the second this weekend.

“We only had about four or five vendors that weekend, but I bet 1,500 people come through and took a look,” Melinda said, noting they had learned they need to offset the dates of their events with other flea markets held in Tiffin and Mansfield.

Steve added, “We’ve got room for more than 100 vendors.”

Those vendors set up outside and plans are being considered to rent out the former motel rooms as storage for the more permanent vendors so they can set up and sell when they want. Pointing at the five acres, the Fishpaws noted the work it had already taken to clean up the property and said there was more to be done. What the property already has, however, is space for vendors to set up and space for patrons to park.

While the goal is to avoid having vendors that often duplicate what is being sold at the flea market, the Fishpaws say they will welcome any and all who have something to sell.

“Anything that’s unique as long as it’s legal,” Steve said with a smile.

Melinda quickly added, “If you’ve got something to sell, bring it out.”

Steve shared why the couple thinks the flea market will flourish at that location.

“We think it could be unique because of the unique location, Bucyrus being right on the Lincoln highway and being the old motel right next to Wal-Mart,” Steve Fsaid. “It’s already a landmark, per se, so everybody knows where it’s at. I think we can expand from that.” This weekend’s flea market opens at 9 o’clock both Saturday and Sunday mornings. The Fishpaws have scheduled additional flea markets on July 11 and 12, and Aug. 13, 14, and 15.