Market Days on Robertson continues to grow

By DAVID LOPEZ
Special to the NEWS

Last Saturday’s Market Days in San Benito was bustling with food, novelty items, an Easter egg hunt, and music all on historic Robertson Street.

The event had 49 registered vendors, one of the market’s largest since the event began in 2019 inside La Villita. However, their exponential growth began last month, with 36 vendors, many of whom sold out. Dibs and Ribs, a La Feria barbecue vendor, was the main attraction as well as Music Town who delivered the live music.

“March was phenomenal,” said Iris Garcia, organizer and owner of The Shop with a Little Bit of Everything. “In April more vendors wanted to join but we had no space, so we ended up having 38 vendors on the street and six in the backyard.”

Held every third Saturday of the month, the event’s mission is to revitalize historic Robertson Street.
Market Days was shut down during the 2020 lockdown until the City of San Benito allowed the organizers to begin again in February of 2021, this time outdoors.

Iris Garcia and her committee began holding the event in her shop’s backyard with about 15 vendors at the time. Eventually, the city gave the committee the okay to hold the market outdoors in the street in June, which proved to be a bigger hit. They opened the event with mariachis to celebrate mother and father’s day.

“I choose to believe that a lot of it has to do with our committee,” said Garcia. “We are all about supporting our vendors. We are five in this committee for the past two years and we have done everything from cleaning streets to picking up trash.”

Garcia is also giving thanks for the support she has received from both vendors and political leaders, including Mayor Rick Guerra, who stayed behind last Market Days helping and making sure every vendor left safely.

“The EDC gave us a huge shout-out, advertising us on Rio Sports Live, and KTEX came out and did a live video,” said Garcia.

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