The Berkeley Flea Market — a community fixture near Ashby BART since 1973 — holds its grand reopening Saturday. The city's summer Movies in the Park series kicks off Friday, and the Itty Bitty Market and La Peña tianguis pile on. All free, all this weekend.
The city's summer Movies in the Park series opens Friday with a screening of Wicked: For Good at Strawberry Creek Park. Film starts at 8:40pm and runs to 11. Free. Come 30 minutes early — Berkeleyside flags that street parking fills fast and you'll want time to stake out blanket space. Call it 8:10pm to be safe.
Saturday is the bigger day. The Berkeley Flea Market holds its grand reopening at the Ashby BART station parking lot (off MLK Way and Ashby, 9am–5pm), a comeback for a market that has anchored this neighborhood since 1973. The market's own site is calling Saturday its "1st Annual Berkeley Flea Market Celebration," which tells you the scale of the ambition: local vendors, live music, standup comedy, an art walk, and a hands-on acrylic paint pouring station. BART is the obvious call — Ashby station puts you at the entrance.
From 11am to 4pm, the Itty Bitty Market sets up at 1919 Fourth St with handmade goods, vintage finds, and a pop-up booth doing sparkly tinsel hair installations. Fourth Street has easier parking than downtown; the market is free.
La Peña Cultural Center (3105 Shattuck Ave) runs its annual tianguis from noon to 6pm, honoring Frida Kahlo's birthday — BIPOC vendors, food, drinks, live music, and all-ages activities all afternoon. Free.
If tonight is still on the table: the Brower Center opens "Flow State," its 2026 annual exhibition featuring five jury-selected Northern California artists, at 6:30pm. Free with registration; runs through August 20.
The move: The flea market revival at Ashby is the one worth building the day around — it's a returning community institution, not a brand-new popup, and Saturday's lineup gives you a full six hours of reasons to stay. Take BART to Ashby, hit the flea market, walk over to La Peña in the early afternoon, and call it done. If you're closer to the water, the Itty Bitty Market on Fourth Street is the lower-effort version of the same idea.


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