The Randolph Street Market Festival is a hybrid indoor-outdoor market held outdoors the last weekend of each month, May through October, and indoors the third weekend of October, November and December. History Sally Schwartz, a native of Chicago, is the founder of the Randolph Street Market. She is an events specialist, and previously owned and managed Paint Me A Party Productions, a corporate special events and incentive travel marketing company. Special Events magazine listed the company among the Top 50 Event Planners (cite SE mag, 2002). Schwartz was profiled in the Chicago Sun-Times Business Section in 2000. She has a degree in marketing from Virginia Tech and worked for several years in advertising before forming her own companies. The Randolph Street Market began in 2003 as the Chicago Antique Market and grew to add the Indie Designers section in 2005, the Holiday Mart in 2006, and the vintage and collectibles areas in 2008. Summer markets During the summer season, May–September, the market features high quality goods and food items; the markets have monthly themes. The Randolph Street Market Festival is held the last weekend of each month, May through October. Trading hours are on Saturday and Sunday. Occasionally the market sponsors a special charitable preview event on Friday evenings preceding market days. The market has been compared to New York’s Chelsea Flea Market, London’s Portobello market, and the Paris market at Porte de Clignancourt; it is "...an urban antique market reminiscent of those found in Europe and New York City..." writes Jenniger Winneg in Center Stage Chicago. "Memorial Day...marks start of the alfresco shopping season...outdoor bazaars in the West Loop, a full city block--1350 W. Randolph Street, and 1340 W. Washington Street, between Ada Street and Ogden Avenue---is packed with antiques, vintage clothing, midcentury decor, and indie craft vendors..." writes Chicago magazine editors. "During the last weekend of each [summer] month, the Randolph Street Market Festival... [brings] to the Loop an astounding array of Americana and antiques, including home furnishings, art, fashion and jewelry from all decades and all parts of the globe." Over 250 exhibitors and upwards of 10,000 visitors participate in the festival which is a popular weekend destination for Chicagoans and visitors to the city. It is the largest market of its kind in the Midwest. The Randolph Street Market Festival offers buyers hundreds of boutique spaces presented by dealers, purveyors and designers from a multi-state region.