Old Timer's Flea Market

The lot behind Timberline Auto

Old Timer’s Flea Market sets up in the paved parking lot behind Timberline Auto Sales at 1175 North Woodruff Avenue in Idaho Falls. Each vendor gets a space 10 feet by 16 feet and brings a canopy, tables and chairs. Nothing may be staked into the pavement. The lot has no water or electricity, and sellers park away from their booths, so the rows are tables and awnings without trucks between them.

The market’s own pages give its hours as Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., April through September, “RAIN OR SHINE.” When East Idaho News announced the opening in March 2026, it reported 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The posts for the summer’s market days list what turned up on the tables: a ceramic fireplace, fishing gear and tackle, tools and toolboxes, vintage décor, books, toys and homemade treats. Chantelle Garn brought antiques, vintage collectibles, books and toys. Jackie Nice brought handmade crafts. A seller named Allen came with tools, toolboxes and fishing gear. Other booths went by the names Ray’s Wood Shed, The Lunar Apothecary and Cox Custom Works. Music played all day. Pita Dogos served food on the lot, and Kona Farms Home Bakery sold cinnamon rolls and fresh-squeezed lemonade. The posts also pointed shoppers to more food across the street. Pets are asked to stay home. A leashed dog may come, and there is a relief area. A $200 fine applies to waste left uncleaned or a dog let off the leash.

The market billed itself plainly. “We’re NOT a farmers market,” one June post read. “We’re a true flea market.” It invited sellers to bring garage-sale leftovers, outgrown clothes, kids’ toys and furniture.

A short summer in 2026

The market’s About page says Old Timer’s was founded in 2025 and “started humbly with a handful of vendors.” East Idaho News described it as opening on April 4, 2026, with about 10 vendors signed up for the first day as of March 11.

The owner, Allen Gahagan, told the paper he had planned a table covered in butcher paper for children to color on, and was looking into an open-mic karaoke tent. He said he had met people who run the Idaho Falls Farmers Market and told them he was not trying to tread on their business. “What I’m after is that garage seller,” he said. In July the market’s posts urged farmers market shoppers to make one more stop before heading home.

The summer did not keep to a weekly rhythm. A market set for Saturday, June 27, was called off because of forecast rain. The next was held on July 11. Afterward the market thanked shoppers and two staff members, James and Sam, and promised that the next date would be announced. That date was August 22. On August 12 the market said it would close for the rest of the summer “due to a lack of vendor participation.” It added, “this is not goodbye,” and said it planned to return the next summer.

Yellowstone Highway, more than 30 years ago

Gahagan was 69 when the market opened. He drives trucks for a living, and in 2021 he started his own trucking company, Eventide Transport LLC. He moved from California to Idaho Falls in the 1990s to be near his parents, who had bought a ranch in Paul. Flea markets were popular in California then. When someone opened one outside Idaho Falls, he said, he decided to do the same, but inside the town.

“I wanted to be inside the city limits, but there had never been one inside city limits,” Gahagan recalled. “I pushed the issue and was finally able to rent a place (on Yellowstone Highway) up the road from where the Sonic is now and that rock quarry.”

By his account, that market skated by for most of the summer. Near the end of the season, two women from California arrived with a truckload of goods to sell. “We probably had 400 people come through that day, which was quite a bit back then,” he said. “Idaho Falls didn’t really know what a flea market was (then), but people got what they wanted. The girls worked out a deal with them. It was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had.”

He thought about reopening for years. His friendship with the owner of Timberline Auto brought the new market to the North Woodruff lot. “I hope it’s a good thing for those who are less fortunate to be able to barter and have a chance to buy things they otherwise couldn’t afford,” Gahagan said. “The idea is to have something for everybody.”