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 that they did.In hosting or attending a Really Really Free Market, or RRFM for short, the Downsview community was became a part of what is now a global movement. The RRFM movement began with markets being hosted in both Miami, Florida and North Carolina in 2003. Since then different markets have been hosted in places like Washington, Minneapolis, Russia, England, New Zealand and Toronto just to name a few.
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 show up to play music, people giving out free massages or jokes.
The point of the markets is to encourage an anti-capitalist market system. Of course this sentiment is not surprising given that part of the original organizers of the movement were anarchist groups. You don’t have to be an anarchist, though, to be a fan of getting a bunch of free stuff and decluttering your own space!
The last North York RRFM happened in November and hopefully there will be another springing up in a month or so as the weather heats up. This is something to watch out for because the more people who show up to participate in an event like this, the more there is to offer and enjoy. As a sort of anti-establishment movement, it really does rely on the participation of others to make it as great as possible. So be sure to keep an eye out for the next one, it will be posted on our events page as soon as we hear any news of it at: www.downsviewadvocate.ca/events