Swap-A-Rama

Two days in June at the ExpoPark

Swap-A-Rama fills the Trades and Industries Building at Montana ExpoPark for two days each June. Since 2025 it has also used the Mercantile Building next door. The tables carry clothing, toys, electronics, crafts, handmade items, jewelry, antiques, collectibles, video games and garage sale goods, “and everything in-between,” in the organizers’ words. Earlier announcements also listed tools and knives. The market opens Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. and runs again Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The fourth annual edition was held June 5 and 6, 2026.

The trade has gone both ways. In 2024 the organizers announced that vendors would buy from the public as well as sell, and shoppers were invited to bring in anything they wanted to sell. That year the Friday evening was billed as a “Sneak Preview” with $10 admission, and Saturday was free. For 2025 the KGPR Radio listing again gave $10 for Friday and free admission for Saturday. KRTV’s morning roundup for June 6, 2025, said admission was free.

The market rarely has the grounds to itself. In 2023 the organizers counted a Rock and Gem Show, the Summer Solstice Craft Fair and a high school rodeo at the fairgrounds the same day, “so we are hoping for a big turn out.” The Rock and Gem show and the Solstice Arts and Crafts show ran alongside again in 2024.

The Mercantile and the Trades and Industries buildings

Both halls are among the six original structures of the fairgrounds, which were known as the North Montana State Fairgrounds before they became the ExpoPark. Gordon G. Cottier and George M. Shanley designed the original grounds in the Art Deco style. The other original buildings were the Atrium, the Family Living Center, the Fine Arts Building and the Livestock Pavilion, now called the Heritage Building. Shanley’s Livestock Pavilion went up first, in 1919. Most of the rest were built between 1928 and 1938, and many of those finished from 1934 on were paid for with Public Works Administration grants. In 1939 the Montana State Fair moved permanently to Great Falls from Helena. The six original buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Cascade County owns the grounds at 400 3rd Street NW. They cover 133 acres, with 35 buildings, a horse racing track, grandstands and the Four Seasons Arena.

A first Saturday, June 10, 2023

The first Swap-A-Rama was held on June 10, 2023, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the Trades and Industries Building, with no charge for admission. The sources give two accounts of who put it on.

KRTV reported that Jessica Stiles, who works at Pawn-A-Rama in Great Falls, was organizing the event with her partner. The station noted that Pawn-A-Rama itself was not organizing it but would take part as one of the businesses. “Kind of as an event where we can have a big flea market where lots of small, local businesses can participate. We have a couple of nonprofits that are going to participate,” Stiles said. “It’s a great way to get our community together. I think, especially as small, local businesses we really rely on our community and helping each other is such a big part of that.” KGPR’s listing for the 2025 market named Pawn-A-Rama as organizer. Sign-ups have run through the shop, at 901 Central Avenue West.

The June 2023 newsletter of Great Falls Rising gave another account. It reported that the Golden Triangle Resource Council, an affiliate of Northern Plains Resource Council, was presenting the “First Annual Swap-A-Rama Flea Market.” According to the newsletter, the council was still collecting donations of new, used and made items for the swap meet. Donors could drop them off Friday evening from 6 to 9 or at 7 a.m. Saturday.

That first market shared the day with the second annual Solstice Arts & Crafts Show, which ran from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with live entertainment. Kym Stevens, one of the craft show organizers, named the performers: “Mark Lowe, he’s a country variety artist, Illusion Dance Studios will be performing, belly dancers, Hundred Grit Band, Centerville cheer squad, Montana Face Painting.” Fellow organizer Kris Landon explained why they had started their own show: “Trying to find shows and everything is just tough to come by (in) this day and age, so we thought ‘You know, let’s put on our own.’”

The Friday session came the next year, in 2024, and the Mercantile Building the year after that.

Winter at the Civic Center

A Swap-A-Rama Christmas Market was first held in December 2025, on the 5th and 6th, in the Mansfield Convention Center at the Great Falls Civic Center. Admission was free. On the Friday night the organizers promised concessions from Nosh Catering and live Christian Christmas music, with the downtown Christmas Stroll going on outside.

KRTV covered that first market as part of its Stroll coverage, describing vendors setting up a Christmas flea market at the Civic Center. The station named Jessica Deez as coordinator. “I love this, this is our first year. So it’s super, super exciting. Love being a part of the Christmas Stroll,” Deez said. “A lot of my friends have businesses downtown, so I’m really glad to be here.”

The holiday tables run to jewelry, games, toys, clothing, food, crafts, trading cards, collectibles and antiques. The second annual Christmas Market is announced for the same hall on Friday, December 4, 2026, from 4 to 9 p.m., and Saturday, December 5, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free both days, and there will be concessions and live Christian music while the Stroll goes on downtown on the Friday night.