More than 400 people recently browsed the tables of used books, clothing and records in search of vintage treasures at punkottawa.com’s fall flea market, while raising money for local animal welfare charities.
Now in its second year, the concert promoter’s bi-annual fundraiser, held Sept. 17, raised $600 for the Friendly Giants Dog Rescue, Westminster Pet Sanctuary, and Wild Bird Sanctuary, and strengthened the bond between pets and punk rockers in the city.
Chris Feeney, one of the organizers for the event, says animal welfare is a big part of the punk music community, so a portion of the proceeds from the flea market goes to different animal rights charities every year.
“This time there’s the dog rescue, because a very close friend of ours . . . He rescues dogs, and takes care of battered, abused dogs, and his best friend Frank, a dog that we’ve all known and loved, passed away recently,” says Feeney.
Kelli O’Brien, president of the Westminster Pet Sanctuary in Curran, Ont., about an hour east of Ottawa, says punk bands like the local group The Beer Barons, have held benefit shows for the sanctuary in the past.
“It’s a wonderful community to work with and I’m very pleased because they do a lot of great work,” says O’Brien.
While many vendors and buyers were from the punk music scene, a variety of people and businesses from around the neighbourhood took part in the event. Vegan bakery Auntie Loo’s Treats on Bronson Avenue, and new and used bookstore Bibliocracy on Somerset Street West were two of the stores from the area that had tables at the market.
Co-owner Vaughn Macdonald, who opened Bibliocracy with his partner in July, says it was his first time at the flea market, and he hopes that afterward more people will come to the store.
“This is our ideal clientele concentrated in one space,” Macdonald said.
“We get everyone from the elderly to civil servants stopping in to Chinatown for dinner and who go by the store just to take a look. But this is the type of crowd that actually seems to buy our books as opposed to just browsing through randomly.”
punkottawa.com plans to have another flea market in the spring, and Feeney says as long as people keep coming, they’ll keep having it.
For the Westminster Pet Sanctuary, O’Brien says they’re hoping to use the money to take in more dogs with special medical needs from a puppy mill seizure in Quebec.
“Without people like them it would make our job so much more difficult, and we truly, from the bottom of our hearts, appreciate it so much,” says O’Brien.