SPOKANE, Wash. — Rising prices are hurting local businesses, but the Lilac City Vendor Fair is offering an affordable solution.
Rebeccah Benedict founded the vendor fair to give local businesses a cheap way to sell their goods. Vendors pay just $50 per day to participate.
“Most of our vendor events are not actually run by vendors or small business owners at all, which makes sense as to why they don’t always know what we need,” Benedict said. “So I thought, this is just silly we should be running our own events. So this is my vendor event, run by vendors, for vendors and our community.”
The market operates every weekend from May through August in the Northtown Mall parking lot. The location helps mall staff meet local businesses that might want to rent space inside the mall.
“It’s really cool. It gives people an opportunity to be close to the mall and go in and see what the potential is,” said Genesis Veronon, Northtown Mall’s specialty leasing manager. “We will find leases with people that are apart of these markets. There will be people who want to come and become apart of the Northtown Mall family.”
The fair also serves as a community gathering place. It features a mini free library and board games.
“You can pick up a book from our mini free library. You can play some board games,” Benedict said. “We are just answering a call that we heard from our community. We think people want more places to gather outside, unplugged, and connect with each other in real life.”
The fair showcases different types of Spokane businesses, from coffee shops to arts and crafts to skin care vendors.
“We just know that what makes Spokane a truly special place to be is our local artists, our small business owners, our favorite local food vendors,” Benedict said. “So we are just here to shine a spotlight on all of the incredible community members that are already here doing what they are doing.”
The fair will feature over 40 vendors throughout the summer, with plans to add more businesses.
COPYRIGHT 2026 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
