Richard Solis always grabbed a churro after paying a couple of quarters to enter the Pro-Swap-Meet in San Bernardino.
The 26-year-old local artist and filmmaker bought his last one Sunday, Oct. 24.
Thousands visited the popular night swap meet off Mount Vernon Avenue for the final time this weekend, about a month after management announced the location would close this month because “the times and conditions are no longer the best for this activity” at the site.
Sunday marked the final day of the swap meet’s nearly 20-year run in town.
“I was shocked when I heard it would close,” Solis said Monday, Oct. 25. “It’s going to affect everyone. I know a lot of people who go there, and throughout the years I’ve met a lot of vendors.
“Thinking about their future and them not being there is tough.”
An online petition to keep the swap meet open had nearly 6,500 signatures headed into the final weekend.
Many who signed shared memories of visiting.
“This is my childhood,” commenter Alissa Morales wrote.
“It’s been there since I was a little girl,” Sabrina Guillen added, in part.
Solis, who took photos of the festivities Sunday and flew his drone overhead to capture the scene, frequented the swap meet with his parents as a child. Over the years, he picked up shoes, shirts, sweaters, tools and other items for low prices.
Churros, too, of course.
What set Pro-Swap-Meet apart from others in the region, Solis said, was the night setting. Whereas the sun hammers guests at daytime swap meets, Solis said the San Bernardino one was “more relaxed, more fresh.”
While Solis did not buy anything Sunday, he said he spent the evening “talking to some vendors” and “enjoying the moment, the last moment.”
The San Bernardino Community College District is in conversations with the property owner about the possibility of purchasing the land to build affordable student housing and new workforce training facilities, district officials have said.
“The reality is that too many of our students don’t have stable housing,” Scott W. Thayer, San Bernardino Valley College interim president, said during a Zoom meeting this month where the future of the swap meet site was discussed. “And if they don’t have a place to sleep, do homework or cook a meal, they cannot learn.”
Said Solis: “I hope that this new property has a good outcome in the future and is helpful for everyone. I hope that it doesn’t go to waste.”
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