Hundreds Come Out in Support For the 37th Annual Marple Hero Scholarship Fund Flea Market

NEWTOWN SQUARE—On Sunday, Sept. 18, the The scholarship helps the education of spouses or children of police officers, firemen, or EMS personnel of , who have fallen or become severely injured in the line of duty.

Their families are able to apply for the Marple Hero Scholarship to aid with educational costs for high school or college. President for the scholarship fund, Officer Pete Baylor said they are very fortunate to have the scholarship available to the community heroes.

"I personally don't have any kids yet, but there are a lot of people in the various organizations that have kids and I want to make sure that the money's in the proper place," said Baylor. "God forbid we happen to lose a fellow brother or sister and we have to take care of their family, I want to make sure there are funds available for that."

For almost four decades, the scholarship fund has been holding an annual flea market to raise money through renting vendor spaces, a 50/50 raffle, and a donation from the food vendors. Baylor said the organization raises about $10,000 for the scholarship through this event. This year’s event brought about 200 vendors selling various used and new goods throughout the parking lot of This was Baylor's first year running the event, but he wasn't planning on making any changes.

"If it's not broke, don't fix it," he joked. "Once everything is set up, it just runs itself."

Jennifer Haines, one of the hundreds who rented out vendor space, has been coming out for almost five years and this time she brought friend, Amy Corsy, who said this was her first and hopefully her last time but meaning well. Corsy cleaned out her storage space and her goal on Sunday was to sell everything so she wouldn't have anything to come back with the following year. Haines said this was one of the busiest markets she has been to and it was for a very good cause.

West Chester resident Beth Watson has been selling at flea markets since she was a little girl. She grew up in Broomall and hasn't been to this particular market for a few years. She specializes in vintage accessories and bar ware. Watson had everything from tiki-themed purses to retro shot glasses.

Kevin Bomhardt and his wife traveled all the way from Maryland to sell some of their children's used clothing and various items. Bomhardt's in-laws live nearby and participated four years ago. Now that their daughters are older, they came back to get rid of a few used items. Whatever doesn't sell during the flea market will either be consigned or donated.

Mario Bonaduce, a local flea market shopper, was going through vendor Jason Cancellarich's collection of sports cards. It was his second year and said he'd come back again. This was Cancellarich's first year at the flea market and was thrilled. The day wasn't even half over and he knew he would be coming back next year.

Shoppers could easily be overwhelmed with the sheer variety of items. A lot of vendors featured home goods like glassware or holiday decorations. There were several tables of new artisan jewelry featuring funky or vintage designs.

One of the big sellers were used and slightly used tools; shoppers picked through boxes of drill bits and screwdrivers. There was also plenty of books, baby clothes, and tons of old videogame accessories. Flea market shoppers couldn't help but find something to take home, even a vintage film camera found a new home with this Marple Newtown Patch writer.