The central market is the heart of Siaya town — a sprawling open-air affair where Luo traders sell produce, second-hand clothing, hardware, and just about everything else. Stalls spread out from the permanent covered section into the surrounding streets on the main market days, filling the air with the smell of frying mandazi and smoked fish from Lake Victoria. This is where you see the actual commercial pulse of the region, not the tourist version.
Come on a weekday morning when it's busy. You will find tilapia and omena (silver cyprinid, known locally as dagaa) from the lake, fresh vegetables, and the ubiquitous mitumba bales of second-hand clothes sorted and sold by the kilo. Few visitors pass through Siaya, so the market has none of the performance quality that tourist markets elsewhere in Kenya can acquire — traders here are focused on business, not on you.