College of the Desert Street Fair

Always a favorite trip when we are in town. A nice variety of golf carts, lemonade, vegetables, ‘old guy wear’, art and other items you’d expect to see at this kind of event.

Hubby and I live in the desert full time, so it’s not very often we head out to «do» the COD street fair. The weather has been very mild, and we decided to trek on over to check out the new solar shade parking lot, where the vendors are set up.
The weather was awesome, and the addition of being able to walk in the shade made our visit well worth it.
While we didn’t buy anything on this trip, we did browse the stalls looking for any must haves.
I heard one vendor say that next week will be the last for him until September when the weather cools down.
Maybe next week will be good to come out and see if anyone has marked down their merchandise for the end of the selling season.

It’s better than before. They have roof, so people don’t get tan that much. Stores are almost the same every week. It’s hard to get the parking spot

M & J’s BARBEQUE — loved the polish sausage. Cooked perfectly. $ 4.50. Great
FRESH SQUEEZED LEMONADE — Loved it, kind of pricey but free refills!

I lie coming to this open air market. There’s so much stuff to buy, and at great prices. The only thing I wanted to see was more vendors that had better men’s clothes. A lot that I saw I could get at ROSS for the same price. No offense, I’d rather buy it from the store knowing the quality is good. The food selections are good and always makes me hungry when I pass by the vendors. I would highly recommend coming here if you like open air markets

This is a slightly upscale street fair, with better quality goods, for the most part. Prices are retail. If you’re expecting a cheap place to buy tube socks, or crap from someones garage, this isnt the right place. Its very close ro El Paseo, the Rodeo Drive of the Desert. I noticed a lot of comments about the lack of local artisans. Many left, during the recession years, as the public did not support them. People say they love art, but when things are handmade, people rarely are willing to pay for it. This is not a cheap venue to sell your wares in. Rents can run
close to the cost of a storefront. The plus side for a vendor is the fantastic traffic, the fantastic traffic, and the food court. Many vendors already have stores, and use this venue to generate quick cash flow. Lots of Blingy ladies bedazzled clothing, jewelry (mostly costume, but some better), cute sandals, sun hats, knock off handbags, golf accessories, iron garden art, kitchen gadgets, you name it, patio furnishings, they have it here.

GREAT place to waste time on a Sunday morning, or bring OOT visitors, go for a stroll, or find bargains on cool art and/​or merchandise. The food court offers quite a variety of delicious foods, so if you get hungry on your visit, you will be satisfied ! Enjoy and recommend.

Many vendors here at this «commercialized» street fair. Found some pretty good items on my first visit. Free parking and you can also order many types of food to eat while you are shopping. A fun event for the day.

This place is pretty awesome. It’s perfect for getting all the weird little household knicknacks you want, but can’t find at Target or WalMart.

Just ok. A lot of junky stuff, like tacky purses/​bags, clothes, and jewelry stands. Couple cute dog clothing vendors.

This used to be one of my favorite stops when we visited Palm Springs. I’m not sure what happened but it has become less of a street fair and more of a commercial venue. There used to be lots of hand made stuff and now almost everything is made commercially. When I was there a couple of years ago bought this really cool peacock garden sculpture which I’ve had in my garden for years. I had also purchased a cute ant sculpture and wanted to add to it. Nothing looked as good as the one I had and were all obviously made by machine.
The food vendors were ok looking although we had just had breakfast and didn’t want anything. We did get some lemonade which the man told us was refillable. Nice touch.
I doubt we’ll go back next time we visit.

I always come to this «swap meet» when in PD. During the summer, there’s not nearly as much going on as in the Winter but it’s still fun.
This past weekend I was mesmerized by Max the Peeler Guy. Great presentation made me do it. I bought the entire set of peelers (already have the whisk), which seem to be pretty heavy duty. Only problem is there are no directions in the packet for attaching the peelers to the plastic mandolin board :(Guess I’ll have to visit Max when I go back in two weeks!

Just moved to the desert and wanted to explore the town. I came here on a Sunday in July and was very disappointed by the number of vendors present at the fair. I was expecting a parking lot filled with a variety of vendors and food stands. To my disappointment, there were literally 15 to 20 booths with only one being lemonade stand. I came here hungry and left even hungrier. I asked one of the workers there about the event and he told me that this is usually the size of the event and that there would be more vendors during the Fall season around October. I will definitely come back in a couple of months to check it out. Until then, I will be searching around for more events.

The selection was much less exciting than last time (a few years ago). And, despite the fact that the season is almost over, I expected some local food vendors as it was a holiday weekend… None could be found.
The only positive thing I have to say is that the walking environment is much more pleasant with the newly constructed solar-​panel shade system.

Great place to visit when in the desert! You can find anything from locally made crafts to items to fill your junk drawer that you never knew you needed until you saw it!
The food trucks are delicious and you can relax at the dining tables while listening to some live music or local dance teams or cheerleaders.

How this is called a street fair is beyond me. One would think that a more appropriate name would be a flea market, a flea market targeting the Golden Girl set.
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the couple of hours I spent there. Between the booths of gaudy bedazzled garments, purses with questionable pedigree, tacky lawn ornaments and sun hats they actually had some good stuff too. I picked up a gorgeous Tibetan turquoise necklace from an artisan named Nina of Palm Springs, my husband picked up a really tasteful golf shirt made out of bamboo and we purchased a couple of pounds of barhi dates from the produce vendors that occupy the farthest outlying row.
The «fair» opens at 7 and runs until 2. Because the temperature was predicted in the high 90’s we got there around 8:30 and stayed until 10:30 and it was quite pleasant since most of the booths are under cover. There are lots of places to get refueled and hydrated.

Definitely not a swap meet and no junk from somebody’s trunk.
This is organized by the college’s Alumni Association with proceeds from vendor fees going towards scholarships.
Free parking and admission, as well as a shuttle service back and forth from the parking lot.
Cool Tip:
Vendors fill the 300 plus spots October through May during the main season. There are rows and rows of art, clothes, household accessories, gadgets, purses and jewelry. You’ll find local growers with fresh fruits, vegetables, and food & beverage vendors. I love the outdoor furniture sets with glass fire pits. My husband did not like the price. Oh, phooey!
Seasonal Hours:
7:00 a.m. — 2:00 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, October — May.
Summer Hours:
7:00 a.m. — 12 noon Saturdays and Sundays, June — September.
Hot Tip:
Most vendors go on a break during the hot summer months, leaving less than 100 struggling vendors to sweat it out in our desert heat. Bring a hat!

This street fair is ok.
There are a lot of vendors and food booths, There is a lot of fresh produce, too,
I liked the paella, tri tip sandwiches, crepes abd other stuff.
The Way Key (I think that’s right) music booth is pretty awesome, but I didn’t buy any CDs,

I came here on a beautiful Sunday with low expectations but was surprised how fun and large this street fair is. Admission is free and they offer shuttle service for the lazy and elderly.
This street fair isn’t some body’s garage sale junk but artistic arts & crafts, watches, jewelry, kitchen gadgets, new clothing and even instant salsa mix!
I was glad I brought my friends here to kill a few hours and would recommend this to anyone visiting the Coachella Valley. FYI there’s also a food court with a good variety of vendors.

For the past 3 years we drove up and down Monterey looking over at this Fair with never enough time to stop. Finally, last Sunday we set aside time to stop and it was OK to walk around and get some fresh air for an hour and a half, but the Fair was disappointing – I know it could be better – we have been to better ones that were a lot smaller.
There are almost no bargains here. Prices are what you would pay for the items in Home Depot, Walmart, Mall, Outlet, etc., and sometimes more – because there are no sale prices here and no economy of scale. Way to many vendors selling 99 Cent store level, cheap junk. You see the shipping boxes all over the place. They buy wholesale and sell full retail at the Fair. There were at least 4 stands selling golf balls of all varieties. Almost 10 sellers of those sticky dash mats. A zillion jewelry stores. The guy with the worlds best vegetable peeler. Tons of sellers of the trademark senior citizen’s style clothing – prices higher than than the mall on brands you never heard of. Lot’s of hand creams that will cure any decease.
Lots of greasy food, no Organic vegetable and fruit sellers – and few fresh fruit sellers.
The art sellers and artists that were there, were the best of the show, and some had some interesting things.
We walked down every aisle and it left and empty feeling – something’s missing maybe.
It needs some rehab energy. Maybe some limits on duplication of items for sale.
Parking was easy and free.
There was one table were someone looked like they were having a garage sale – he had a container of Ajax for sale next to some food for sale and some other cleaners. Just a hodge-​podge – bring it all out and see what sticks.
Nothing really encouraged us to come back unless we need some walking exercise.