One year into the COVID-19 Pandemic, and parts of Montana are slowly returning to normal as winter melts into spring.

With lower case numbers, vaccinations, and hopes of reaching herd immunity life is gingerly moving forward.

Some events and social gatherings are cautiously recommencing such as the popular and well attended St. Regis Flea Market.

In what would have been the annual events 44th occurrence, social distancing directives from the state of Montana forced the St. Regis Community Council to pull the plug on the 2020 gathering.

But tentatively the Flea Market is slated to happen during its regular time over Memorial Day weekend, May 29–31.

President of the St. Regis Community Council, John Cheesman explained that the last several council meetings have been full of wishful preparations and taxing decision making.

“Right now, we’re planning on the Flea Market happening. The only thing that could upend it is a shut down, if the state says no, or if there are too many cases. But at the moment we’ve got the green light,” said Cheesman.

“In the meeting before last we hoped, and the meeting this month we said let’s go ahead,” shared Cheesman.

After last year’s cancellation the Community Council will be even busier with organizing the event this May with continued health guidelines in place.

He said, “We’ll be asking everyone to just spread out. Vendors will be the same space wise, but we’ll inform buyers to socially distance while they are there.”

Cheesman added, “In the concession area we’ll probably need to spread out the tables where people eat, and keep our fingers crossed for good weather.”

Anita Bailey has volunteered as a vendor organizer for the St. Regis Flea Market for over 10 years. Along with her husband George, and the help of others she makes contact with vendors to secure spaces in the park. Work groups go out days before Memorial weekend and stake out lots for each vendor to park in and sell from. Each year they have 210 spaces available on the spacious grounds of the St. Regis park, some vendors rent more than one space, but on average the flea market will host 180 different sellers.

Bailey described, “Right now we are full, we have a waiting list for vendors and we are still taking registrations. There are some vendors who I haven’t heard back from yet and those spaces we’ll hold till May 1.” She noted, “I was really surprised how many new vendors we have this year, from Washington and the Spokane area, even one from Pennsylvania.”

St. Regis Community Council thoughtfully navigated events during the last year so as they approached 2021’s event calendar the council felt it was alright to move forward.

Bailey shared, “At the beginning of the year we thought, ‘yeah we can go ahead and treat it as a go’. We hadn’t heard anything otherwise from the health department.”

Council member George Bailey will be working with the Mineral County Health Department to ensure compliance with safety regulations. He’ll also seek insight from Tyler Cheesman, the director of the Trail Rail Run who is adept in various COVID guidelines and protocols after successfully hosting last year's race.

Starting on the Thursday before Memorial weekend assistance is needed to help stake out lots for vendors, measuring and plotting out the park grounds.

By Friday morning at 9 a.m., the park starts allowing vendors to enter and are led to their designated spaces to begin setup. Workers are needed for everything from concession stand helpers, traffic control, garbage pickup, and even assisting vendors setup is often a blessing.

Cheesman exclaimed, “We always need the help, the more the better!”

For those interested in coming down to volunteer for the Flea Market Anita Bailey can be reached at 406-649-1304. To which she added with a laugh, “We’d be happy to put you to work!”

Two council meetings are coming up in April, Cheesman remarked, “That’s where we’ll start getting into the nitty gritty details of the flea market. We are hoping that different school groups will come out like they have in the past and use the work opportunities as fundraisers for things like BPA.”

Council Treasurer Eileen Wolff is also offering to vendors who unable to find space at the park a place to stay and sell on her property on Highway 135 for free of charge. With a long waiting list becoming more common, Wolff has generously provided her lot to sellers for the past several years.

With roughly two months to go Mineral County residents and St. Regis locals alike can’t wait to smell the kettle corn in the air, grab a burger, and walk the grassy rows seeking treasures.

Two years have passed since this annual kickoff to summer was last held and it’s been sorely missed.

Bailey stated, “I think that for those who feel safe enough to come out for this event they are really looking forward to it happening again, and getting back to normal.”