Sidewalk sales, scavenger hunt and fashion show coming to Chelsea

CHELSEA, MI — Chelsea’s Fresh Air Market is planning to bring sales and other events to downtown Chelsea from Friday, Aug. 19, to Saturday, Aug. 20.

The two-day event will start at 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, and local merchants will have different deals and sales set up inside and outside of their stores. Some participating merchants will include The Find, Serendipity Books, The Cottage Rabbit, La Maison and The Garden Mill.

Jennifer Fairfield, the event’s organizer and owner of The Garden Mill, said the Fresh Air Market offers a “new take on sidewalk sales.”

“There were people who were kind of reminiscing about the old days and how much they loved coming to downtown Chelsea for the sidewalk sales and they missed that,” she said. “We decided to bring it back, but we wanted to bring it back in a way that was a little more than just your typical sidewalk sales.”

Some events that will be going on during the market will include a scavenger hunt, a fashion and home show as well as a city-wide garage sale.

The event’s first scavenger hunt, Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Missing Hope Stone, will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19, until 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20. Scavenger hunt participants will have a chance to win a basket full of prizes from downtown merchants.

Along with this, the Fresh Market will have its third annual Fashion and Home Show at 11 a.m. on Aug. 20 at Palmer Commons. The fashion show collaborates with the Chelsea Farmers Market to give business owners a chance to show off their merchandise like clothing, accessories and home goods.

“You’ll get to see a variety of things that just kind of showcase … what you might expect when you come to downtown Chelsea,” Fairfield said.

The Chelsea Chamber of Commerce is also hosting a city-wide community garage sale during the Fresh Air Market.

The Fresh Air Market is a part of a group called #ShopChelseaMich. The group started in 2005 and is made up of independent business owners that create events to bring people to Chelsea to shop.

The group hosts other events throughout the year like Chocolate Extravaganza and Wine, Women & Shopping.

Fairfield said she loves to see downtown Chelsea full of people discovering what the city has to offer and making memories with the Fresh Air Market.

“It’s all about bringing more people in (and) getting more people to know what a great place Chelsea is,” she said.

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