Ark reflects on thriftfest

On Saturday, October 4, The Ark hosted its first-ever “ThriftFest” event, attracting a crowd of over 800 shoppers to its parking lot sale.

“When we dreamed this up a few months ago, it was a way for our vendors to transition from one holiday season to another and sell their ‘dead’ merchandise,” said Ben Coffey, Ark owner/operator. According to Coffey, the available outside spaces sold quickly to vendors. 

After attracting and discussing with vendors, the event’s signature quality was formed: everything sold would be five dollars or less. Vendors agreed to this idea. 

When selling vendor spaces, Coffey promoted with vendors to prepare for 300 guests but to expect 200. “We knew we had something special, but most of our other outdoor markets had super low traffic and the environment wasn’t what we wanted,” said Coffey. “We wanted this event to have a ‘manic’ environment where buyers and sellers had to act fast and decisively.” 

The Ark sold around 400 tickets online as of the evening before the sale, and sold another 400 tickets at the gated entrance to the parking lot. 

“The day started busy and ended busy!” said Mike Bruns, Operations Manager. “It was a truly exhilarating experience!” 

“What a fine-tuned steam locomotion this was,” said Dayna, an experienced vendor at The Ark. “The Ark did such a great job promoting this event, the customers came in droves, and everything was in such an orderly fashion.”

“When we saw the line that had formed, we knew we were in for a fun day!” said Jermae High, Director of Marketing & Special Programs. 

The crew is already hard at work perfecting the event for a spring sales date of Saturday, March 14, 2026. Tickets are already for sale at www.thearkmcpherson.com/thrift