Brooklyn Flea

A bit of news you can use for the big days ahead.

To launch the world premiere of the Williamsburg Flea, at 1pm on Sunday there will be an official ribbon-cutting with none other than Mr. Marty, our beloved borough president (and Eric's former boss) and Council Member Stephen Levin, who have both been invaluable partners in getting the new market off the ground. Ever see a press conference with a bullhorn? Listen up.

And since we're in such a celebratory mood, we've brought in some musical accompaniment in what has become an annual opening-day tradition: at 1pm in Fort Greene on Saturday, the Raya Brass Band will perform—they're a horn-heavy, Balkan-inflected marching band sure to bring the party to the schoolyard. And on Sunday in Williamsburg, directly following the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1pm, the renowned Brazilian marching band Maracatu New York will play their crazy rhythms for all to enjoy. (Thanks to boomBOOM Brice for hooking up the bands.)

Also on Saturday, the national (and massive) Bake Sale for Japan's NYC location will be outside the Lafayette Ave. entrance. A huge number of NYC's best bakeries and sweet shops (Baked, Fat Witch, Sugar Sweet Sunshine, the Treats Truck, Il Buco and more) will be donating baked goods to help raise funds for Peace Winds for Japan, which is assisting tsunami/earthquake relief there.

Yesterday we gave you the lowdown on the new food options at the Flea, and today is all about the vintage, antiques, collectibles, crafts, records, clothes, furniture, flowers and more that will be front and center when we launch our outdoor season this weekend. (Fort Greene Sat., Williamsburg Sun.) Please welcome these fresh faces warmly!

4mula: This Philadelphia-based artist makes decorative and designy self-contained planters in pretty glass containers. Sat/FG

Angela Wieland: In moving to Brooklyn from Portland, Oregon (welcome!), Angela is clearing out a huge storage unit from a store she used to run. Lots of collectibles like mirrors, lamps, toys, records and more. Sun/WB

Brooklyn Art Library: Look for the Library's (pictured below) innovative and ambitious "reading room," where their 1500+ artist sketchbooks will be for sale, as will the vintage furniture you sit on while perusing. Very experiential and cool. Sun/WB

The Collective: Maggie Owsley's recently shuttered Colorado vintage/design shop finds a new home at the Flea.  Sun/WB (starting 4/10)

Fine and Dandy: Matt Fox has curated an excellent selection of foppish menswear, most of it locally made and sourced. Think bowties, scarves, pocket squares, cufflinks, etc. (starting 5/1)

Hot House Market: Husband-and-wife team coming all the way from Indiana to sell with us! Carrie and Doug Rosen are new to the antiques biz and they've got old frames, furniture, cake plates, bowls and more. Sat/FG (starting 4/9) & Sun/WB (starting 4/10)

Neal Mello: Longtime NYC dealer with a new Williamsburg shop has the line on vintage furniture, knickknacks, and some cool clothes. Sun/WB (starting 4/10)

NY Cutlery: Chris Harth crafts handmade kitchen knives using steel from reclaimed saw blades from the logging era. He shapes, tempers and hardens the knives in his Fort Greene backyard, and also makes cutting boards and chopping blocks from salvaged wood. Wow. Sat/FG

Opus 418: William Sours is an old-school vintage-furniture shop owner from Union Avenue in W'burg; when his rent skyrocketed, he decided to close shop after 25 years and move to the Flea. He also makes his own wooden tables and furniture from salvaged wood. Sun/WB

Park Delicatessen: Cute vintage and floral shop in Prospect Heights (above) will set up a mini-store at Flea. Sun/WB

Phil Fehr: Phil had a store in Forest Hills, Queens, and now sells as a hobby. He concentrates on collectible books (photo and horror are a specialty), comics, sports and political memorabilia, sheet music and other ephemera. Happy flipping. Sun/WB

Sam Reiss: Antiques and collectibles from a local Williamsburger and young collector. Everything from Herman Miller chairs to '80s Nintendo video games. Sat/FG (starting late April)

Slipped Disc Records: Longtime (now shuttered) Long Island punk rock record shop run by affable Mike will be in the 'Burg weekly with collectible 45s, posters, T's, and more. Sun/WB (starting 4/17)

It's time! The rollout of the new spring vendors begins: food folks today, everyone else tomorrow.

We've been trying out and cultivating new food vendors all winter, and can't wait for you to share in their culinary delight under the beautiful Brooklyn sky. (Remember: Fort Greene on Saturdays, Williamsburg on Sundays, no more Skylight One Hanson until November.) Our friends at New York magazine did a beautiful job running down many of the highlights this week, but there's actually even more to enjoy. As always, come hungry.

Brooklyn Bangers: The new sausage-sandwich venture from Saul Bolton of Saul and The Vanderbilt. Think about this: smoked kielbasa, veal bratwurst, lamb-and-pork merguez, brisket-fatback hot dogs. Now stop drooling. Sat/FG & Sun/WB

Dough: Fany Gerson's super-popular Clinton Hill doughnut shop (above) sets up shop at the Flea. Bring your best Homer Simpson. Served alongside deelish hot chocolate. Sat/FG & Sun/WB

Empire Mayonnaise: Noted chef Sam Mason's (WD-50, Tailor) artisanal-mayonnaise venture (three words you've probably never seen together) makes its world premiere at the Flea. There will be fries. Sun/WB

Flour City Pasta: Syracuse-area organic pastamaker Jon and co. sells handmade dried noodles, been a big hit at One Hanson. Sun/WB

Frgal: Cute Czech couple Katja and Janek make sweet-savory pastry pies from a hundreds-year-old Wallachian Czech recipe. Sun/WB

Kings County Jerky: Small-batch grass-fed jerky, made right here in Bushwick. Sat/FG

Mile End: The masters of smoked meat bring their Montreal special to our little plateau in the 'Burg. Noah Bernamoff's version is better than your grandma's, and check out his new mobile meat smoker (!). Not in Fort Greene until later in the season. Sun/WB

Momufuku Milk Bar + Friends: The fine folks at Milk Bar have been selling with us for a few weeks, but outdoors they will inaugurate their "Milk Bar and Friends" concept, where Christina Tosi's Milk Bar employees sell items like grapefruit-and-hibiscus jam, and Peanut Butter Jellified's all-homemade PB+J's. Sat/FG & Sun/WB

Oystergirl: The folks from Mary's/Brooklyn Fish Camp shuck oysters while you wait. Is there a better way to start a weekend? No, there is not. Around $1.50-$3/ea. Sat/FG

Rachel's Pies: Brooklyn gal Rachel launches a new business using her Dutch ancestors' pie recipes and lots of fruit ingredients from her parents' Pennsylvania farm. Soon Gowanus will be the pie capital of the world! Sat/FG

Saltie: Caroline Fidanza and crew's stellar Metropolitan Ave. sandwich shop will have all hands on deck for olive oil cake and buckwheat cookies (in the morning) and their perfect Little Chef and Romaine Dinghy sandwiches all day. Sun/WB

Sea Bean Goods: This new Greenpoint-based soup company will represent with warm bowls of their creative concoctions. Owners Brian and Nicole will prepare either clam and leek chowder, spicy sweet potato or cream of spring onion and oyster mushroom soup for their first day at the Flea. Sun/WB

This 'n' That Jam: Bearded Benjamin makes cardamom-honey pepita butter, lemon curd, grapefruit marmalade, and more; he works making healthy school lunches by day. Yum. Sun/WB

Dough donuts image courtesy of Liza DeGuia.

Val had a Flea booth on Day One selling dead-stock enamel earrings and '80s trading cards (Alf, The New Kids, Michael Jackson), then in 2009 she delved deeper and morphed into Kings County Salvage, selling wooden crates, metal industrial containers, distressed benches and shelving units, and detached shop/signage letters (so many letters!). Before long this distressed "salvage" look started showing up in fashion shoots, Ralph Lauren store windows, virtually every Brooklyn apartment, and Scandinavian shelter magazines, not to mention all over the Flea. We're not saying Val invented this look, just giving credit where credit is due.

So we're proud papas to announce that Val (and recent hubby Andy) have opened their very own store, at 103 Broadway (btw. Bedford and Berry) in Williamsburg, and we hope it's a huge hit.

The shop's been open about a week now, filling up with country finds, those crates, vintage toys, antique furniture, all-around old-tymey stuff, and of course letters. The new space is located on the ground floor of the landmark Smith, Gray & Company building, and according to Val it's "the most beautiful storefront in all of Williamsburg." She's even seen fit to invite Fleasters to the opening party tomorrow night: Friday, April 1, 7-10pm. There will be cookies.

If you can't make the party, just see them at the Flea every weekend, in KCS' Fort Greene spot by the sandpit, and on the East River fence in W'burg.

Things got trippy and cheesy at the Scavenger Hunt last weekend: heavy psych-rock jams and fondue!

Check back at noon Friday for this weekend’s items. (Remember, we're moving outdoors: Saturdays in Fort Greene, Sundays at our new location in Williamsburg; no more Skylight One Hanson until November 2011).

From left (click to enlarge):

Saturday: Jeff Johnson (right), a Fort Greene local, was the lucky winner of the 3xLP psych comp that Casey (left) of Eat Records put up for the Hunt. "He's a cool dude and a record buyer," Casey told us, and since Jeff is into psych records it was a perfect find.

Casey of Greenpoint's Eat Records has sold at the Flea since spring of last year, offering his eclectic selection of killer vinyl. File through his bins for the finest in underground and classic rock alongside other genres that will surely blow your mind. He's also got a line on turntables, guitar pedals and electric gear—basically anything music-making is in his realm. Catch him at both Fort Greene and Williamsburg every weekend.

Sunday: Bethany (left) and Neil (not pictured) with Mike (right) of Frank Fazio Design. It was Bethany and Neil's first time at the Flea, after hearing about it from fellow Flea-loving friends. They just had to come for Skylight One Hanson's last day, and they reaped the reward for their visit. Amazingly, Bethany's old fondue pot had just broken! Perfect timing. Here's hoping they'll be back sooner at the outdoor markets.

Mike and Frank of Frank Fazio Design are longtime Flea sellers, having started in Fort Greene in 2008. They are bargain hunters and deep pickers, working to make beautiful new things out of what some might toss off. Lamps are a specialty—with keen rewiring skills, Frank and Mike can turn pretty much any old thing into a point of light. "Whatever we can find, we electrify," Frank told us. Find them all summer long, Saturdays and Sundays.

We met up with old pal Jeanine Ramirez from NY1 at the new Williamsburg spot yesterday afternoon for a quick interview—and by 8pm the piece was on the air. The magic of television. Click to watch the bulldozer/buzzsaw/skyline extravaganza. And come by this Sunday to witness the big reveal!

A selection of our favorite new Flea photos from our beloved shoppers, including a sampling of the great outdoors in advance of this week's reopening. (Saturdays in Fort Greene, Sundays in Williamsburg—say it, learn it, know it.) This week's entries come from Flickr friends zuzu love, Nicole Franzen, NJmomto4 and SocialBreakfast.

Please do join our Flickr group and add your Flea images to the pool, or post your photos to our Facebook page. We'd love to showcase your shots!

With big plans and big changes—the outdoor markets in Ft. Greene and Williamsburg start this weekend!—the Flea's been receiving lots of attention.

Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine (above) did a story on how to host your very own Flea at home, starring vendors Chris Goodman of Totally Bruce, Valerie Bowers-Coombs from Kings County Salvage, Nenenn 155's Bernard brothers and Señor Flea himself.

Brooklyn Paper reports the news on our imminent Williamsburg expansion.

Our flower girl Kat Flower got some love in Daily Candy's NYC spring wedding guide.

New York Magazine got the goods on the new food vendors at the outdoor markets. There's a nice slideshow (excerpt below) to whet the appetite.

Psychedelia and fondue? Such totally groovy prizes in this week's Hunt—the finale at Skylight One Hanson.

When you find one of the items above, which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it’s yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo with the generous vendor here on the blog on Tuesday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday at noon.

From left (click to enlarge):

1. Saturday: Garden of Delights, triple-LP psychedelia compilation, 1971. Vintage
2. Sunday: Fondue set with six forks and heat tray, '70s. Vintage

Note: The Flea is indoors at Skylight One Hanson Saturdays and Sundays on 3 floors (with food downstairs), 10am–6pm, through March. The Fort Greene outdoor market is closed for the season and reopens Sat., April 2. Our new/second location, in Williamsburg on Sundays, launches April 3.

This weekend we say goodbye—though not farewell!—to Skylight One Hanson, the magnificent event space the Flea has called home since January 2010. Every time we walk through the blue-gilded foyer (our personal fave) into the sprawling former bank, or pass through the former vault doors, or gaze from the mezzanine railing, we still give ourselves a little slap in the face to snap back to reality. Is the Flea really happening in such a beautiful historic place? (The pic above is from super-early on our first freezing morning last January.)

We hope you've enjoyed hanging out, shopping, and noshing over the last year and a half—we and our vendors loved seeing you there. And if all goes according to plan, we'll be back at Skylight One Hanson right after Thanksgiving to spend another cozy winter inside Brooklyn's snazziest landmark. And if you want to hold your own event there, just drop Skylight a line and tell 'em the Flea sent ya.

See ya there this weekend, and April 2/3 we're back outside: Every Saturday in Fort Greene, and every Sunday in Williamsburg. Details here.