Lodi Outdoor Market coming to Grape Fest this weekend

The Lodi Grape Festival Grounds will be abuzz with activity from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, as the Lodi Outdoor Market kicks off.

The market will feature more than 75 vendors, selling handcrafted items, antiques and more.

“The Lodi Outdoor Markets were created to give vendors a place to sell their wares, and give our friends and customers in Lodi and the surrounding areas something fun to do,” said Mark Armstrong, general manager of the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds.

Blues Mechanix will play live music throughout the day, and Costa’s Finest Kettle Corn will be on site selling delicious snacks and treats.

A number of local businesses will be joining the dozens of vendors, event coordinator Kaitlin Drake said. Among them:

• Magnolia Metal Signs will sell home and garden decor.

• Kerm’s Kreations will be offering hand-made jewelry.

• California Born Candle Co. will showcase hand-crafted soy candles and wax melts.

• The Floral Mercantile will be selling fresh flowers, dried floral arrangements, wreaths and other home decor.

“The event is 100% outdoors and people will be required to wear a mask and to social distance,” Armstrong said.

Staff will be at the entry to ensure everyone is masked up — including all of the vendors — and to provide masks to anyone who has forgotten theirs, he said.

Hand sanitizer stations will be available throughout the grounds

during the event.

Additionally, the Grape Festival staff have laid out wider aisles and spaced booths a minimum of six feet apart, and farther as much as possible, to ensure there is room for everyone to spread out.

“We’ve made it so there’s plenty of room. I can’t imagine that there won’t be enough room for everybody,” Armstrong said.

No pets will be allowed on the grounds during the market, and no alcohol will be sold.

Armstrong hopes that the local community will come out and have a good time.

“We’re so excited to have something to do,” he said.

Saturday’s market will be the first of three such events, hosted by the Lodi Grape Festival in partnership with Clark Pest Control, Harrah’s Northern California, Cal-Waste Recovery Systems, F&M Bank, Kludt Oil and the Lodi News-Sentinel. The next markets will be held on May 15 and June 5.

Parking and admission will be free for the event at the Grape Festival Grounds, 413 E. Lockeford St., Lodi.

For more information, call 209-369-2771 or visit www.grapefestival.com.