The Curious Flea market is back with its unusual wares and eyebrow-raising entertainment.
The eclectic and interactive event is based at the River Market at Westminster Quay and modelled after the must-see Brooklyn Flea in New York.
“It is not like people who are dumping out their basements. We have a lot of collectors who come and sell their stuff, a lot of pickers, and we have a lot of up-cyclers,” said River Market special events manager, Erin Jeffery.
The upcoming Flea, from May 24 to 25, will be the fourth run of the increasingly popular New West event, which is sponsored in part by The Record.
According to Jeffery, Curious has been busy from the start with 4,500 attending over the event’s first weekend last summer, but it wasn’t initially a big money maker for vendors.
“What we found was that there were a lot of people, but they weren’t necessarily buying. Where, with the next few, we had people that were coming purposely for the flea and were shopping,” she said.
Jeffery said she expects this weekend’s event to be even bigger and better. In addition to approximately 30 unique vendors, there will be more entertainment and one-of-a-kind services, such as a jeweler who’ll refashion broken jewelry into something new.
To entertain shoppers there will be buskers, roaming jugglers and, on Saturday, a circus act.
A few of the vendors are both merchants and entertainers.
Joseph Cassidy bills himself as “Professor Whovianart” and said he “will be bringing his crazy creations and surplus materials, all now radiation safe.”
Cassidy, with his deliberately unkempt, often brightly coloured hair, circular glasses and eye-catching outfits, is a character to behold.
He will be selling science fiction and steampunk props and jewelry along with vintage bits and pieces for people to use in their own art projects.
Curious Flea is on May 24 and 25, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Entrance is free. For more information go to rivermarket.ca, under Events.
–Jennifer Thuncher
