Published: August 18, 2008 09:29 am            

A ‘weekly holiday’

A bargain hunters paradise? It may not be paradise, but the Locust Grove Sale Barn and Flea Market is one great place for bargain hunters to find deals every Thursday, rain or shine.

Owner Jerry Koelsch, said the site has been used for a flea market and a sale barn for generations and he thinks it is one of the oldest flea markets around.

"It’s got to at least go back to the 30s," said Koelsch.

Vendors from around Oklahoma and other states travel to Locust Grove. With wide open spaces, some covered sheds and several shaded locations, the sale barn is ideal for those setting up for a long day.

Koelsch said the stalls are 12 feet by 24 feet and cost around $6 each. He adds a $2 charge for electricity. He estimates an average of 30-40 set-ups each week. Although the flea market is open year round, Koelsch said during the winter months he doesn't collect for setting up.

Most vendors are set up before the sun rises with many packing up to leave by noon.

Koelsch said he enjoys the people who come to the flea market each week and he believes the weekly event brings all types of people into the community.

"I call it Locust Grove’s weekly holiday," Koelsch said.

He also believes it helps the area garage sales since many people set up their sales around town to coincide with the flea market.

"If it wasn't for the flea market (Locust Grove) wouldn't have much of a garage sale," Koelsch said. " It helps the

community. It pulls people in."

Time has changed the types of items sold at the sale barn. Koelsch said that in the past there were a lot of antiques. But one thing has stayed the same. A buyer can find "almost anything and everything."



t Barn history

Originally the site was home of a sale barn where pigs, calves and other animals were sold. Koelsch said peddlers would line up outside the sale barn to sell their wares beginning the long tradition of the flea

market.

The first sale barn

sat up on a hill closer to where the Locust Grove Early Learning Center was built and the owner opened every Thursday.

"There is still concrete where it stood out of old native lumber," said Koelsch.

Koelsch said he believes in the late 1950s the owner, a man from Wagoner with a last name of Huggins, sold the sale barn to Glen and Ruth Yarborough and Tommy Carroll. Koelsch said it was the Yarboroughs and Carroll that moved the sale barn down the hill and built seating around the ring for the auction.

Koelsch’s father, Joe, along with partner, Johnny Bates, bought the sale barn in the early 1960s. Joe and his wife Irene later bought out Bates.

The Koelsch family owned and operated the sale barn for many years. In the late 1970s Joe and Irene sold the sale barn. That’s when tragedy struck. The sale barn caught on fire in January 1977. It burned the front part of the sale ring, the seating and the office. Around the same time the Koelsches lost Joe.

After much litigation the Koelsch family was able to reclaim the sale barn and Jerry decided to buy it from his mother.

He spent nearly a year rebuilding the sale barn. He moved the ring and put in a brand new scales for a price of $2,500.

"I bought brand new scales and never got to use them," said Koelsch.

He never got to use the new scales because on July 5, 1978, the sale barn caught fire for a second time. With a heavy heart Koelsch decided not to rebuild.

"There was no use

putting the barn back," said Koelsch.

He said by that time the flea market was growing. He also said he still has the scales.

Irene said she has kept several newspaper articles and pictures through the years from the sale barn. One photo the Koelsch family would like to have is of the original site where the ring was made of native lumber and before it was moved down the hill.

Jerry said if anyone has a photo he would like to see it and asked that they call him at

479-8257. He said if he’s not home please leave him a message.

        

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