Barrie Automotive Flea Market Closes Its 55th Fall Run

The 55th annual fall Barrie Automotive Flea Market closed September 13, 2026, at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds in Oro-Medonte, Ontario. Gates had opened at 7 a.m. each day from September 10, wrapping a four-day run that the public listing still calls Canada’s finest automotive flea market.

The show did not arrive as a one-off weekend. It is the fall half of a swap meet that started in Barrie in 1971 and has used these Line 8 fields since 1983, with a smaller sister date up in Bonfield.

Four Days on Line 8 Just Ended

Shoppers came in at Gate 8B off the 8th Line South. Vendors, campers, car sales and the car show used Gate 75 off the 7th Line South. Hours on the community record, last updated June 1, 2026, are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, and the park stays open rain or shine.

The organizer still promises collectibles, classic cars, hard-to-find parts, a car sales corral, a show and shine, and thousands of vendors on site. The same public listing now also files the weekend under a plainer heading: automobile parts, a car auction, a car sales area and a general flea market.

A spring vendor on the grounds in June said the weather was poor and the till was not, a reminder that the four-day format still pays some stalls even when the sky does not cooperate. Conservation-club fundraisers were on the field during the fall run as well, working the crowd the way they have on other years.

Spring, Fall and the Bonfield Satellite

BAFM does not run one Ontario date. It runs three, and the 2026 slate on the company site put the flagship back at Burl’s Creek twice, with the northern park in between.

THE 2026 BAFM CALENDAR

The numbering is not a slip. Fall editions count from 1971. Spring editions count as a younger series, which is why the June weekend can be the 42nd while September is the 55th. The community record lists both as the 55th annual fall market and the 42nd annual spring market.

The June 2024 spring market used the same Thursday-to-Sunday grid, June 6 to 9, on the same fields. Bonfield stays a three-day satellite, not a replacement for Line 8.

Where Don Haney’s Club Outgrew a Brewery

Don Haney and a car club opened the market in 1971 on the old Formosa brewery grounds in south Barrie, later known as Molson Park. Linda Groves, Haney’s widow and the owner-operator by 2019, has said the club moved the show to Burl’s Creek in 1983 because it needed more room.

FROM A BARRIE BREWERY TO LINE 8

1. 1971: Haney and a car club start the swap meet on the Formosa brewery grounds in south Barrie.
2. 1983: Groves says the market comes to Burl’s Creek in Oro-Medonte.
3. 2014: Stan Dunford, then chairman and CEO of Contrans Group, buys Burl’s Creek Event Grounds.
4. 2018: The Groves company buys the old Bonfield drag strip for a second event park.
5. 2019: The first Bonfield Automotive Flea Market runs; Groves marks the Barrie fall show as the 49th annual.
6. September 13, 2026: The 55th fall weekend closes on Line 8.

In 2019 Groves still had vendors from the early years, a remainder of the 36 who started with the club. She told visitors the grounds were so large that people used golf carts, because walking end to end ate the day. Lisa Groves, speaking as president in 2018, put that walk at 16 km of roadways.

It is a huge shopping experience, but it really is a place of memories.

Linda Groves, owner-operator

A Drag Strip in Bonfield Did Not Replace Line 8

The Groves family used to own the Burl’s Creek property. After Dunford’s 2014 purchase they became tenants, and Lisa Groves said at the time that owning a venue again was the company’s future. The land they bought was the idle Bonfield strip, later billed as Bonfield Event Park.

Bonfield officials said in 2018 they expected the flagship market to move north in 2020, around a planned 50th anniversary. That move never took the Barrie dates off Line 8. The 2026 company header still stacked Spring Barrie, Bonfield, and Fall Barrie in that order, with the two large weekends back on the rented Oro-Medonte fields.

The township’s own history page puts the current Burl’s Creek footprint at 526 acres in Oro-Medonte, of which 92 acres are zoned for special events and the rest sit in agricultural, rural, residential and environmental zones. Barrie Speedway ran on the same landholdings from 1965 to 2015. The flea market is one use among several on a site that also takes concerts and festivals.

Lisa Groves said in 2018 each Barrie event put about 50 to 60 people to work, from parking to garbage. The company put local economic impact at $6 million per event that year and said the market had been among Ontario’s Top 100 events for the previous five years. Those figures have not been refreshed in public for the 2026 weekends.

Housewares on the Parts Rows

The pitch is still carburetors, fenders, die-cast and cars that need a trailer. The floor is broader than that. Groves said years ago that stalls already ran from car parts to clothing and home décor, and the 2026 public record names a general flea market beside the parts and the car sales area.

That mix is the fight among people who have been coming since the Molson Park years. Longtime parts hunters describe rows of china, teapots and tired plastic where they used to walk exhaust and sheet metal, and they treat the gate as part of the insult. The organizer still sells the weekend as the place where a missing piece shows up if it is going to show up anywhere.

Both things can be true on the same field. Restorers still trailer in old Fords and stepside trucks. Vendors still load tools, liquidation auto stock and antiques. Shoppers still leave with hubcaps. They also leave with furniture and crafts, which is why some of the original car people stay home.

How Camping, Gates and the Car Show Work

General admission enters at Gate 8B. Children 12 and under free when an adult is with them, accessible parking is on site, and Sunday is the only day for two-for-one coupons and passes. No pets come through the gate, and none are to be left in vehicles.

WHAT A WEEKEND COSTS

• Camping prepaid: $170 for a Wednesday-to-Sunday site that includes weekend passes for two adults, if it is booked and paid before the Friday ahead of the event.
• Camping on site: $190 for the same site if it is booked on site or after that Friday cutoff.
• Saturday night only: $75, including two adult passes.
• Car show: $20 for one vehicle and the driver for a day, $30 for the four-day pass; passengers pay $10 for a day or $20 for the weekend.

Tuesday early check-in for campers and vendors carries an extra $25. Sites are first come, first served unless a vendor pre-registers and holds a preferred 20-foot by 30-foot stall.

FIELD RULES THAT ACTUALLY BIND

• Shopper gate: Gate 8B off the 8th Line South of Oro-Medonte.
• Working gate: Gate 75 off the 7th Line South for vendors, campers, car sales and the car show.
• Stall freeze: No vehicle movement in vendor fields Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Car show clock: On-site sign-up 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, with ballots due by 1 p.m. and trophies at 2 p.m.
• Overnight cars: No overnight parking in the car show; vehicles left after midnight are towed at the owner’s expense.

People’s Choice trophies cover 11 ballot classes: cars pre-1940, 1940-1949, 1950-1959, 1960-1969, 1970-1979 and post-1980; trucks pre-1940, 1940-1959, 1960-1979 and post-1980; and motorcycles. For-sale signs stay out of the show area. Lisa Groves, in 2018, put the four-day crowd in a range of 50,000 to 75,000. That is the last numbered attendance the company has put on the record.

Fill the Boot Closed the Weekend

Oro-Medonte Fire and Emergency Services spent Sunday, September 13, on the grounds for a Fill the Boot drive for Muscular Dystrophy Canada, the last public shift of the 55th fall. The department posted the date before the gates opened that week.

OMFES will be at the Barrie Automotive Flea Market this Sunday, September 13, for our #FillTheBoot campaign.

Every donation counts and helps support Muscular Dystrophy Canada. Visit us at the event or donate today.

To donate: https://t.co/raVzAQctWw pic.twitter.com/I2c3UmyqN9

— Oro-Medonte Fire & Emergency Services (@OroMedonteFire) September 10, 2026

That is the other use of this crowd. Firefighters, conservation-club volunteers and food stalls treat the four days as a dense local floor, while the car people treat it as a parts run. The company office still lists weekday hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the same phone it has used for years, 705-487-3663, with mail to P.O. Box 210, Oro-Medonte.

The 2026 header on the company site still reads Spring Barrie June 4-7, Bonfield August 21-23, Fall Barrie September 10-13. Those dates are now spent, and a 2027 slate has not been posted.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Did the Barrie Automotive Flea Market Start?

It opened in 1971, when Don Haney and a car club set up on the Formosa brewery grounds in south Barrie, later Molson Park. Linda Groves said in 2019 that some of those original 36 vendors were still buying stalls almost fifty years later.

Where Is Burl’s Creek Event Grounds?

The community record puts the gate at 180 Line 8 South, Oro-Medonte, ON L0L 2E0, on the 8th Line between Highway 11 and Lake Simcoe. Traffic can enter from the northbound lanes only; drivers coming from the north are told to use Oro Line 7, turn around, and come back north on Highway 11.

Are Pets Allowed at the Barrie Market?

No. The organizer bans pets at the events and bans leaving pets in vehicles. Accessible parking and accessible facilities are listed on the general admissions page beside that rule.

How Big Is a Vendor Stall?

Stalls are 20 feet wide by 30 feet deep and are rented first come, first served, with pre-registration holding a preferred site from year to year. A plaque goes to vendors who register for the next year before they leave on Sunday, and each stall includes weekend passes for two adults.

When Are Car Show Trophies Handed Out?

Trophies are presented daily at 2 p.m. at the car show registration tent, and every ballot is entered in a daily prize draw at the same time. Admission to the show is at BAFM’s discretion, and loud music is barred in that field.

The office still answers weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 705-487-3663. The 2026 dates are finished, and the next painted 20-foot stalls on Line 8 have not been given a calendar yet.