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Wheaton seems to have a market for flea markets.

After a successful summer of closet-cleaning and treasure-sifting under the covered outdoor ice arena at Wheaton Regional Park, a new flea market is opening up in downtown Wheaton.

This one, put on by the Wheaton Urban District, will take place in the Wheaton Triangle once a week, with the pilot market launching Nov. 1 at the corner of Grandview Avenue and Reedie Drive.

Unlike the Flea Market in the Park, in which residents stocked tables with their once-loved goodies about once a month at Wheaton Regional Park, the downtown flea market will be more of a "flea-craft market as opposed to a flea-garage market," said Sidney Cooper, the marketing director for Wheaton Urban District.

The market will attract homemade arts and craft vendors, people selling furniture and possibly antique vendors, Cooper said. The two markets aren't in competition with each other, she said, but instead will complement each other.

"I'm really looking for it to be something different that supplements what's going on there," Cooper said.

And the location of the new flea market—right across from the Wheaton Metro—will be more accessible for residents living downtown who don't have a car, Cooper said.

Most flea market shoppers drove to Wheaton Regional Park over the summer, because it's not near a metro station and is tucked off any main road.

If all goes well Nov. 1, Cooper said she hopes to draw food vendors and entertainment every Saturday the market is open.

"The Flea Market in the Park has been successful. ... Our feeling was we don't want to compete with that, but it would be nice to have something that's a bit more centrally located for people who can't get to that one," Cooper said.

The birth of flea markets in Wheaton is a fantastic thing for residents, said Brian Borge, the acting facility manager at the Wheaton Ice Arena. Borge is responsible for the Flea Market in the Park.

"The more, the merrier," he said.

"There is a community of flea market vendors and the clientele," he said. "If anything, it's going to bring exposure to us."

Indeed, Cooper said she hopes to draw hungry flea market shoppers to the restaurants around the Triangle. And it will be a boon to the ailing farmer's market, which has one lone vendor on the Triangle every Sunday, she said.

Borge said the Flea Market in the Park has successfully drawn attention to the entire Wheaton athletic complex. By the flea market's end last month, more than 900 people a day were showing up to shop, he said.

In fact, some Flea Market in the Park shoppers said they'd be hesitant to visit a downtown market due to limited parking.

"It may make it more hectic with traffic to [Westfield Wheaton Shopping Center] or Safeway," Borge said of the main anchor shopping centers downtown.

But perhaps more people will notice the market and stop by, he said.

"They have a good spot, ... because it's more out in the open, and they're right in the heart of Wheaton," Borge said.

And a crowded downtown means a lively, busy downtown—something Wheaton's restaurant owners and farmers market vendors say they desperately need, Cooper said.

"The whole point of this flea market, whether it's this year or next, is to help boost the farmer's market," she said.

If Nov. 1's flea market is a hit, Cooper said she'll likely host one once a month. The Flea Market in the Park is closed for the winter but will open up in spring 2010, Borge said.

-Stop by the Wheaton Triangle, on the corner of Grandview Avenue and Reedie Drive, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 1 to shop for arts, crafts, jewelry, collectibles, furniture, antiques and more at the first-ever Downtown Wheaton Flea Market. Admission is free, and vendors are welcome. For information or a vendor application, visit wheatonmd.org, call 301-649-1915 or send an e-mail to Ljohnsonshows@aol.com.

-The Wheaton Flea Market in the Park, held at the Wheaton Regional Park's outdoor ice arena, is closed for the winter. There are plans to open it up in March as a regular event, say the ice arena's facility operators.