One recent Saturday, Heather Everblue woke up excited for the event that “differentiates Durham” from the rest of locations where she’s lived.
On the third Saturday of every month, from 12 to 2 p.m., you can see items piled high onto mats or even scattered in the grass at Orchard Park on South Duke Street. From bright-colored blouses and barely used sneakers to original Bob Dylan vinyls and Alvin and the Chipmunks CDs, you can find almost anything. This is the Really Really Free market. And it’s exactly what it sounds like. No catch. No exchange of money. No trading. Simply sharing.
As Durham resident and market frequenter Lanya Shapiro, puts it “[the market is] an opportunity to share your stuff, make sure that stuff that you have that you don’t love or use anymore gets to somebody else who wants it, instead of going to a landfill.”
Everblue stands on the slope of a hill just before a picnic pavilion booming with music and chatter. She holds a garbage bag full of goodies she’s just collected in one hand, and motions towards the scene behind her with the other.
Everblue looks forward to the market every month.
“Free markets should be everywhere,” she says. “Everyone has stuff they need to get rid of, and everyone has stuff that they need.”
If one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, then this month, Everblue struck gold.
“I have been begging for shorts,” she says, opening her arms and looking to the sky, as if about to catch something.
“It happens all the time!” she exclaims in disbelief. “I’ll be thinking of buying something, and then I’ll come to the next market, and there it is.” Today’s find is three pairs of pants from her favorite brand, Old Navy, and in exactly her size. She plans to cut them into the shorts she’s been searching for.
Crouched down and sifting through the pile beside her is her next-door neighbor, Sarah Martin, who emerges with a blue T-shirt in hand. The neighbors often carpool to the market together, and say they contribute an item every visit.
The market’s roots go back to the pandemic. North Durham Mutual Aid, a community group dedicated to fulfilling the unmet needs of nearby residents, began hosting a free market every three or so months at Northgate Park and in a parking lot downtown.
A similar Really Really Free Market has been taking place every month in Carrboro for the past 20 years. When a pair of Carrboro residents moved to Durham, they were inspired to bring that monthly consistency with them.
“And then it evolved,” said Emmanuel, one of the former Carrboro residents. People from the North Durham Mutual Aid group joined forces with other nearby free markets and the Durham Really Really Free Market emerged “under its own banner, unaffiliated.”
Now the market is a place where kids can be seen playing hide and seek behind trees, while couples hold hands and peruse through piles.
One woman explains that it’s part of an effort to be “more sustainable and conscious.” This means taking what you need, and leaving what you don’t, even if you love it. Even if you find a pair of 1970’s Doc Martens.
“They were originals, made in England, which is super cool. And they fit me, too!” the woman says happily, as if the shoes were on her feet. But they weren’t. She never even took them. She already owns a similar pair of Doc Martens, and thought it best to leave the shoes for “somebody else who might not have them.”
Such displays of generosity convinced Heather Everblue that Durham is a special place. “ [The market] and the gardens in people’s front yards were indicators that this is a community-based city that cares about its people,” she said.
Near the market, rows of garden beds are bursting with life in a community garden. The last two garden beds, full of flowers, tomatoes, cabbage and other leafy greens, are courtesy of Comrades in the Commons. The community group, which also convenes at Orchard Park, built these beds with everyone in mind, ensuring that they belong to no one but the Durham community.
Beside the garden, Food Not Bombs distributes food and other essential items under a white pop-up tent, with the organization logo hanging off a bannister. Available at their tent are oatmeal packets, condoms, Narcan, snack bars, stickers and more.
It’s this type of community engagement that the Really Really Free Market thrives on. And what shocked Everblue when she first moved here from Orlando, Florida.
“Where I came from this would be absolutely unthinkable,” she says with a bittersweet smile.
Pictured above: Blankets, T-shirts, CDs and more turn up at the Really Really Free Market. Photos by Gabriella Rivadeneira — The 9th Street Journal
