Every Saturday morning, rain or shine, is the Soda City Market in downtown Columbia, SC. From 9 am-1 pm, market booths/tents/trailers are arranged down the middle of Main Street from Lady Street to Blanding.
Market Booths
These market booths are anything from all kinds of food, jewelry, candles, flower bouquets, pottery, bath products, sweets, fruits and vegetables, and all kinds of art. I even saw a person selling miniatures that she makes herself; they are so cool! I didn’t see her on my second trip, so while it’s a lot of the same vendors, it’s not the same people every time.
flower bouquets 
plants for sale 
fruit & produce 
strawberries-only booth 
Photographs printed on metal 
bath products 
miniatures by Jenn Santiago 
Etsy @jendenshop 
Copper earrings 
sunflowers 
roses 
SC painted windows 
art by Saffy Veiox 
tiny succulent fairy garden 
They also had one, “I hate comcast” 
striped eggplants 
succulent booth 
min & match glassware 
Anthony Walker’s Southpaw Cigarbox Guitars
Food
Let’s talk about the food. I personally ate: a dairy-free protein shake, a sausage muffin, shrimp & grits, and a slice of carrot cake (1st visit); fresh-made donuts, a watermelon juice, seafood paella, and a cookie (2nd visit.) I will say that those donuts were amazing, definitely the best of everything I tried. I’m not sure if the moral of the story is to not go in breakfast-hungry or TO go in hungry so you can eat more.
Besides what I’ve already mentioned, I saw the same Latin food booth that was at the Columbia International Festival, selling elote and fresh mango. There were waffles, pancakes, arepas, and lots of other international options I can’t quite remember.
seafood paella 
watermelon cooler 
mango & elote 
waffle truck 
cute cookie camper 
these were HUGE – 1/4 of a square pan 
making the donuts 
these were SO GOOD
Entertainment
Main Street is a wide street with a low median in the middle. On market days, there are usually musicians playing for tips, mostly students trying to earn extra money. But there’s also a balloon-animal lady, and last time I spotted an artist painting a scene. Before the pandemic, there were a lot more but they’ve just recently let them start to come back.
Main Street
In general, walking up and down Main Street without car traffic a nice way to see downtown Columbia up close and at an angle you can’t normally get.
Bathrooms
There are no official bathrooms for the Soda City Market, per se. It’s not like they truck in a trailer of port-o-johns. Most people go to the Mast General Store, where they’ve set up a line for bathroom use. I’ve also tended to visit the State House at the same time as the Market, and there are bathrooms (and air conditioning!) in there. Last time, I hung out upstairs in the State House for a little bit before heading back out into the heat.
Dogs
A word about dogs, for the uninitiated. It seems to be a thing to bring your dogs to the Soda City Market. Which is all fun, they’re super cute and almost all well-behaved. But watch out for getting your legs clotheslined out from under you by a dog darting away from its owner! Or, more common, someone in front of you stopping suddenly because their dog wants to go greet another dog. It’s a bit of a traffic jam when it gets crowded. The earlier you go, the less crowded it is. (Though I’ve also seen some booths that don’t open until a little later, too.)
Parking
Parking is on surrounding street and garages, and I know at least the street parking is free on Saturdays. Both times, I parked on Lady Street, which put me nearest the State House.
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