Photographs of the early days of Jackson Street Market Days depict an event trying to get its footing in Harlingen.

It’s 2001. What few booths and vendors that show up at the street festival’s inception space out along a city block in downtown Harlingen. A now long-gone Lack’s furniture store serves as the primary backdrop. There were doubts back then that Market Days would stick in Harlingen.

“My husband said, ‘better call it a market minute because it’s not going to last long,’’’ Sue DeBrooke said of her husband, Bill, a longtime developer and believer in downtown Harlingen. 

The Rio Grande Valley knew flea markets but the concept of an open-air downtown street festival was an unknown in those days. Bringing such an ongoing event to Harlingen was the brainchild of local residents Donna Gayle Gray and Bonnie Keener. They had enjoyed such festivals in Central Texas communities. Getting started in Harlingen meant recruiting vendors.

“I would see people selling fruits and vegetables around town and ask them, ‘would you like to be part of our market days?’’’ DeBrooke recalls of the sales pitches that launched Harlingen’s downtown celebration.

‘A Huge Deal’

Soon enough, the event on the first Saturday of every month grew from one block to two and the buzz and crowds began to grow.

Downtown Harlingen on Jackson Street brought back memories of the charm and old school appeal of what cities were like before shopping malls and retail power centers. People who knew each other and did business side by side like neighbors. 

Today, 25 years later, the Jackson Street Market Days is a multi-blocks affair. The focal point of the market goes from 4th Street to Commerce, with over 160 vendors and upwards of 5,000 visitors flocking to downtown Harlingen for the biggest event of its kind in the Valley.

“It has become such a core event for Harlingen,” said Beth Fuqua, a downtown business owner and a key member of the festival’s leadership.

There is an intriguing variety of products sold at the festival on the first Saturday of every month on Jackson Street. Soaps, fishing rods, fruits and vegetables, cookies and pastries, and all sorts of arts and crafts, just to name a few. There’s live music as well. It’s a lively market vibe during its operating hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shoppers and onlookers walk up and down Jackson, visiting and eating and renewing acquaintances. It’s all great exposure for Harlingen and has become vital for the financial well-being of downtown merchants.

“Market Days is a huge deal for them,” said Fuqua of downtown business owners and she is one of them with her J&B’s Café on Jackson. “It can salvage their month.”

Building Community

Business matters aside, there is little doubt that Jackson Street Market Days has been a key element in boosting the image and confidence of downtown Harlingen. 

The momentum it has provided has helped to fill vacant buildings with new businesses. Its success has spawned other downtown events celebrating the arts and local culture. Adjacent downtown blocks like West Van Buren with its coffee shops, restaurants and flower shops have developed their own seasonal celebrations in drawing from the exposure of Market Days. 

A Grassroots Effort

Other cities have contacted Market Days leadership to inquire about possibilities of having their own downtown festivals. Often imitated, never duplicated, it could be said about Harlingen’s Market Day. It is not a city government-run operation, but one managed by a core of dedicated volunteers. The festival is run by 501c nonprofit organization with its own board of directors who oversee the event to ensure compliance to its rules and requirements. 

There is no paid staff. Volunteers help set up barricades on early Saturday mornings, carrying tables and equipment and assisting vendors in finding their booth locations. The Market Days leadership works closely with city government and the local police department in coordinating the monthly event.

“Our main goal is to make sure people are having fun,” said DeBrooke, who is known for carrying a clipboard as she makes the Market Days rounds. “There’s something about the exclusivity of just being on Jackson and not spreading it out. I want it to be on this space and keep it in a certain way of how we do things.”

Rain or shine, Fuqua says Market Days will be there the first Saturday of every month in downtown Harlingen, with “a consistency that made us what we are.” Twenty-five years later, the minute has turned into years, with DeBrooke saying her husband is happy to have erred on his 2001 predication.

“Everybody needs to jump aboard,” said Fuqua, who is a Market Days board member, as is DeBrooke. “People are still coming and they’re looking for things to do.”