Colfax Bazaar returns: Building born from history is alive again

There's a building on Railroad Street that has seen more of Colfax's story than almost anything else still standing in town. This Saturday, March 21, it opens its doors again – and the whole community is invited. The Colfax Bazaar returns for its third quarterly event at the Historic Fruit Exchange Building, 229 Railroad St., from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free. A building at the heart of Colfax history The Fruit Exchange Building has been standing since 1910 – built at the peak of Colfax's agricultural boom, when Sierra Foothills orchards were producing thousands of crates of apples, pears and peaches every season. The story begins even earlier, in 1850, when pioneer Enos Mendenhall planted one of the first fruit orchards in the region, recognizing what Gold Rush miners overlooked: that the land itself was the real treasure. As orchards multiplied across the foothills, the Colfax Fruit Growers Association formed to help farmers organize, inspect, pack and ship their harvests. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad had already transformed Colfax into a strategic shipping hub, and the Fruit Exchange Building became the nerve center of it all. Growers brought their harvests here. Packers prepared them for shipment. The Southern Pacific line, just steps away, carried them west to Sacramento and San Francisco markets. By 1926, Colfax had become one of only 23 icing locations in the entire Pacific Fruit Express network – keeping refrigerated railcars cold with blocks of ice cut from the Sierra snowpack. Then, as it does, time moved on. Mechanical refrigeration made the icing platforms obsolete. Larger Central Valley operations took over distribution. The orchards went quiet. And this remarkable building – architecturally intact, historically significant – sat largely dormant for decades while thousands of cars rolled past on Interstate 80 without knowing what they were passing. That is changing. A partnership rooted in purpose When building owner Todd Saylor approached the Historic Colfax Downtown Association with a vision for bringing the Fruit Exchange back to life, the partnership made immediate sense. The Historic Colfax Downtown Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a simple but deeply rooted mission: to breathe new life into downtown Colfax by honoring its history, uplifting its people and creating spaces where community can truly take root. Together, they launched The Colfax Bazaar – a recurring quarterly marketplace that gives people a reason to get off the highway, walk through those historic doors and discover what Colfax has always had to offer. The first events drew more than 1,000 people to downtown. The second built on that momentum. Saturday's third installment promises to be the best yet. This building stood at the center of Colfax's story for over a century, and now it's doing it again. Every vendor, every visitor, every dollar spent here is helping us bring downtown Colfax back to life – and that means everything to us. What to expect Saturday Vendors will fill thousands of square feet with antiques, vintage collectibles, handmade Sierra Foothills artisan goods, vintage clothing, home décor and one-of-a-kind finds across every category. Shoppers can expect vintage LIFE magazines from the 1950s, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola coolers, a vintage vending machine, gas station and automotive memorabilia, antique furniture, vintage clocks, mirrors and trunks – plus an exceptional lineup of local makers offering handcrafted wood pieces, handmade jewelry, small-batch artisan soap and resin art, all sourced from the Sierra Foothills. Live music plays throughout the day, food is available on site, and parking is right next to the building. Early-bird entry opens at 7 a.m. – a full hour before general admission – for a $5 donation to the Historic Colfax Downtown Association. Tickets are available at TheColfaxBazaar.com. And the bazaar is just the start of the day. The Colfax Community Center is hosting a flea market the same day, and antique shops will be open all along historic Main Street. Stop by the Welcome Booth at the bazaar to pick up a map of everything happening downtown.