Brooklyn Flea Celebrates its 10th Anniversary
With Long-Term Locations, Vintage + Maker Workshops, New Vendors, New Indoor-Outdoor Industry City Venue
Ten years after launching in a schoolyard in Fort Greene with 20,000 people in attendance—April 6, 2008—Brooklyn Flea remains the pioneer in creating a curated, high-quality, community-oriented outdoor market for locals and visitors alike. With its mix of vintage, repurposed, handmade, and food vendors in a town-square environment now replicated around the world, a decade later the Flea still features many of the same vendors from the original 2008 market, who have become fixtures of Brooklyn culture while emerging as world-class dealers in their individual niches.
After a year of evolving venues, the Flea has landed in long-term stable homes. Sundays starting April 8, the market enters its third year at the Archway Under the Manhattan Bridge at Pearl Plaza in DUMBO, every Sunday from 10am to 5pm, through October. On Saturdays starting April 7, the Flea will continue at its 2017 winter home at burgeoning Industry City—also home to ABC Carpet & Home, Design Within Reach, a Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams outlet, the Brooklyn Kura American craft sake distillery/tasting room, a Japanese food hall and a delicatessen by Hometown Bar-B-Que’s Billy Durney both soon to open, and more—taking over a sprawling ground-floor indoor/outdoor space that includes the landscaped public courtyard between IC’s Buildings 1 and 2. The Flea will then stay in Industry City through Winter 2018, shifting to an all-indoor location on both Saturdays and Sundays starting in November.
Building on its strong ties to the designer and collector community, former Flea vintage vendor Amy Thorowgood (of Wildfell Hall Vintage) has joined Team Flea as a curator of market experiences. In addition to managing the @bkflea Instagram, Amy programs pop-ups by makers and influencers that showcase the culture driving the Flea: unique talent, customization, creative sourcing, beauty. Edwina White (@theedwinawhitefiles) hosted a free workshop on collage image-making using paper materials sourced at the market; Luck Fish (@luckyfishjann) created one of her Many Moons wall hangings, guiding the audience through the printing, beading, and stitching phases; and menswear lover Allison Graham (@shedoeshim) will take over the @bkflea Instagram to kick off the April 7+8 opening outdoor weekend. More special events are planned and will be announced on the Flea’s Instagram.
- April 21
Stay Small Art Club kids-crafting workshop. - April 28
Charles Chessler Photography photo booth. - May 26
Workshop with Flea vendors BK Bumpkin (kokodama) and Savannah Hope (macrame). - June 16
Sashiko Japanese-embroidery/mending workshop with Katrina Rodebaugh.