PENSACOLA VINTAGE FEST

Raid the Racks at the Gulf Coast’s Largest Vintage Clothing Event

by Nicole Willis

Immerse yourself in the world of timeless and nostalgic fashion at the Gulf Coast’s largest vintage clothing event— Pensacola Vintage Fest.

Hosted by the Pensacola Vintage Collective (PVC), the first annual Pensacola Vintage Fest will take place at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds July 14, bringing together more than 70 vendors from across the region—each offering a unique treasure trove of retro garments and accessories that showcase the charm of years past.

Whether you are a collector of vintage clothing, a sports fan searching for old championship t-shirts or just an everyday shopper in search of that perfectly worn-in pair of jeans, look no further than PVC’s upcoming Pensacola Vintage Fest. Every style and genre of men’s, women’s and children’s vintage clothing will be at shoppers’ fingertips during the event.

PVC was founded in 2019 by Ryan Smith, an active member in Pensacola’s bustling vintage scene. Smith has been selling unique vintage pieces through his local business, Obsolete Heat, for a number of years. There are two permanent Obsolete Heat booths in Pensacola—one in Bo’s Local Finds and the other in Blue Moon Antique Mall. In addition to maintaining his booths, Smith spends his time organizing and hosting various PVC markets and pop-up events throughout the community.

“We’ve done in the realm of 12 to 15 major events in the city at places like Odd Colony, Doc’s Hop Shop, Gallery Night, etc. So, it’s something we’ve been working on for a while and have built up to the point where we’re getting to now, where we’re now ready to have a big time event,” Smith said.

Despite high turnouts at previous PVC events, Smith is expecting the upcoming Pensacola Vintage Fest to break attendance records, aiming to host anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 attendees.

According to Smith, the largest PVC event so far was the Vintage Block Party, which is hosted semi-annually at The Handlebar. “We’ve done the Vintage Block Party three times, and last October was by far the biggest draw from our accounts. It wasn’t a ticketed event, so it’s hard to gauge an exact number, but I would say somewhere in the realm of 1,500 to 2,000 people showed up that day,” Smith explained.

In order to accommodate a crowd of this magnitude, Pensacola Vintage Fest will be held inside a 20,000-square-foot air-conditioned expo hall at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds. More than 75 local and regional vintage vendors will be set up inside the space, allowing attendees to shop and browse all of the wonderful vintage pieces, no sweat.

The main focus of Pensacola Vintage Fest is vintage clothing. Other PVC markets in the past have had a variety of vendors selling items other than clothing, for example, homewares and handmade products. “This event in particular will be a 90 percent vintage clothing event,” Smith said. The other handful include a few vintage homeware vendors and food trucks.

Smith carefully selected each of the vendors to ensure there would be a large and varied selection of quality vintage clothing available at the event.

“I want the people who are active in the scene to be there, and not someone who’s like, ‘Oh, I have a few things. It’s like a yard sale, right?’ What I’m looking for is established and experienced vendors,” Smith said.

Many local vendors that regularly set up at PVC events will be in attendance, including Rocket to Saturn Vintage, Garden Street Vintage, Sporadic Vintage and many more. There will also be a number of new regional vendors attending the event.

“We have vendors coming from Georgia, Mobile, Birmingham, Panama City, Tallahassee, Tampa, Orlando and Auburn. We have vendors from all of those cities coming to Pensacola to set up for the event. So, it’s more than just a local event, we are attracting regional talent as well,” Smith explained.

Nole and Gator fans can get particularly excited about two vendors traveling into town—Picked and Dave’s Freshly Used. Picked specializes in vintage Florida State sports apparel, while Dave’s Freshly Used specializes in vintage Florida Gators gear. The two will share abooth, going head-to-head and in a UF vs FSU vintage face-off.

Pensacola-based vintage staple, Garden Street Vintage (GSV), is hosting perhaps the most unique attraction at the event, showcasing a massive collection of nearly 500 items of throwback Pensacola merchandise. From vintage Pensacola Junior College and University of West Florida apparel, to nostalgic Blue Angels memorabilia and more, there will be plenty of one-of-a-kind pieces for locals to explore. Even if you are not a regular vintage shopper, there’s sure to be something in this collection that will spark your interest.

“For the last three years Dallas, Adam and myself (GSV owners) have been rounding up every vintage clothing item we could find that had anything to do with Pensacola. We decided not to sell anything in hopes of one day dropping it all at once as a huge vintage Pensacola-themed collection,” GSV co-owner Cody Potter explained. “When Ryan brought up the idea of us debuting the collection at the biggest vintage event Pensacola’s ever seen, it was a no-brainer. We are excited to showcase over 500 vintage Pensacola-themed t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets and more from the 1950s all the way up until around the early 2000s. We are excited to finally give people a chance to see and buy some incredible local vintage that we have been collecting and appreciating over the last few years.”

Tickets to Pensacola Vintage Fest are on sale now for $5 at pensacolavintage.com. On July 4, the standard ticket cost will increase to $10 online and at the door. Early Bird tickets are also available online for $15, which offer early entry to the event for those wanting first dibs on available pieces. Kids 12 and under may attend at no cost.

Pensacola Vintage Fest will run from 11 am to 5 pm on July 14, with early entry granted to Early Bird ticket holders at 10 am. The Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds is located at 6655 Mobile Hwy.

For complete event details, merchandise previews and more, visit pensacolavintage. com or check out @PensacolaVintageCollective on Instagram and Facebook.