Our flyer for the market

Join us on Saturday!

Advertisement

Join us on the 24th for the next market!

The next market will be on Saturday, June 24th, 10 am to 3pm, at the Driftwood Community Centre. Bring the items you don’t need and take as As per usual, we will stop accepting items at 2 pm. This time we will be sharing the gymnasium with the Repair Cafe Toronto. So if you have any broken household items, bring them to Driftwood and you can look for free stuff while you wait for a fixer to see you!

Please remember our rules:

1. Items brought must be clean and in working condition.
2. No pushing, shoving, or otherwise competing over items. We remind you that this is a community event and the people taking part are your neighbours.
3. No items will be accepted after 2 pm.
4. Before 2 pm attendees may only take one item from each category, except for books and clothes (of which attendees can take as much as they want). After 2 pm attendees may take as much as they want.
5. The North York Really Really Free Market is a completely volunteer-run event. We do not receive any funding for the market. As such, we reserve the right to ban, bar, or eject anyone from our event.

See below for the Repair Cafe’s flyer. Note that their times are slightly different from ours.

Thanks for coming!

There weren’t too many people who attended our return but we thank you anyway! We likewise weren’t able to get too many pictures but here’s all of them.

Our new sign on the left with the rules

Just before opening. Volunteers brought some of the goods on the tables in the back.

A lot of toys arrived

They were at the community centre to watch an indoor soccer game but got some free stuff while they were there.

Our volunteer Mekki trying out this exercise equipment . (He ended up taking it home.)

The date for the next market has not yet been decided but it will likely be in February or March. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list or have any questions or comments, please fill out the following form:

Name(required)

Email(required)

Comment

Submit

Δ

New rules

The next market will take place on Saturday, Nov 26th from 10 am to 3 pm. Due to a disturbing incident at the last market new rules will be implemented and existing ones will be more explicit. These rules are:

1. Items brought must be clean and in working condition.
2. No pushing, shoving, or otherwise competing over items. We remind you that this is a community event and the people taking part are your neighbours.
3. No items will be accepted after 2 pm.
4. Before 2 pm attendees may only take one item from each category, except for books and clothes (of which attendees can take as much as they want). After 2 pm attendees may take as much as they want.
5. The North York Really Really Free Market is a completely volunteer-run event. We do not receive any funding for the market. As such, we reserve the right to ban, bar, or eject anyone from our event.

There will be a sign with these rules at the next market. If there are any questions, you may contact us at northyorkrrfm@gmail.com. Let our volunteers know if you have any questions or problems during the market. All volunteers will be wearing “VOLUNTEER” name tags.

Some pictures from the May 21st market

Our regular room was unavailable so the market had to take place in the community centre’s hallway.

Several pairs of skates arrived.

Many brought their kids with them to the market.

Cute!

This fashionable Syrian girl got a stylish pair of sunglasses..

An old camera

A bike cooler, perfect for picnics.

We hope he gets a lot of use out of these skates this winter.

The market is in one week!

Next market on May 21st

March 19th Market

Thanks in part to the Downsview Advocate’s article we attracted 130 people! We hope you all gave and got something good!

We always get a lot of toys. The multicoloured base came with a bag of blocks.

Although our book table looks empty in this picture a short while later it was full of books again.

Kitchenware and foodstuffs

What do you guys think about our new sign? Yea or nay?

A mix of electronics and hardware

Bath and beauty products

We try to be a kid-friendly event

Two pairs of vintage skates

Something for her daughter.

This boy was so excited it was hard to get a clear picture.

One of our volunteers made some tasty spring rolls for everyone at the market. We hope you were able to get one!

Dolls like this sell for about $40 brand new.

UPDATE: One of our volunteers brought his camera and was able to take some nicely shot photos.

The Downsview Advocate wrote an article about us!

If you receive this free neighbourhood paper then you likely saw this article about us. Unfortunately, we can’t seem to find the article on the Downsview Advocate’s website (just these two pictures) but here’s some highlights:

If you happened to be hanging around the Driftwood Community Center on January 31st, you likely would have stumbled across what appeared to be an indoor Garage Sale. What was actually going on was the second North York Really Really Free Market. Downsview residents joined together at the community center with things that they didn’t need any more and left with a few things they did. In hosting or attending a Really Really Free Market, or RRFM for short, the Downsview community was became [sic] a part of what is now a global movement.

…

The whole idea of the Really Really Free Market is based on the idea of a gift economy, in other words, you don’t need to give to get anything. You show up with items that are no longer needed in the hopes that someone else does. Or you can show up, look around and see if there is anything you need. It is also common that people show up to offer services or skills provided for free. These can be things like sewing skills, bands who show up to play music, people giving out free massages or jokes. The point of the market is to encourage an anti-capitalist market system.

She goes on a bit about the upcoming March 19th market but gets the times slightly wrong. We will open at 10 am, not 9. Still a great article and we thank Ms. Leah Sullivan for writing it.

UPDATE: Yesterday (March 18), the Advocate uploaded the full article.

Spreading the word

Do you want to help spread the word about the Really Really Free Market taking place on Saturday, March 19th? Sure you do, and here are some reasons why:

1. You want the stuff you bring to the market to find a good home. This is more likely with more people at the market.
2. You want to see a wide selection of things at the market. The more people that know about it the more people will come and the more stuff they will bring. (By the way, if you’re looking for anything in particular let us know and we’ll try to keep an eye out for this item for you.)
3. You’re a nice person and like telling people about awesome community events where they can get stuff for free.

Our poster can help. You can post it at work or in your neighbourhood or anywhere else you think it will be seen. Thank you, and see you at the market!