Punk Rock Flea Fest celebrates ten year anniversary

The Punk Rock Flea Fest celebrated a ten year anniversary in late September, kicking off with an exhibition opening at TAP Centre for Creativity on September 24. It featured an array of live music, local vendors, and afterparties.

While the Punk Rock Flea Markets happen seasonally, the distinctive Punk Rock Flea Fest ten year anniversary celebration was bigger, louder, and with more live music and local venue involvement. 

For the exhibition opening, Victory Tattoos from the Old East Village provided affordable flash tattoos on site to gallery visitors, while local indie-fuzz garage rock band La Rent played songs from their most recent release, “weather report.” Bands Ruby Doom and Maux Marquis provided additional sound and grit. 

Jeremy Bruneel, the festival/market’s chief poster artist had the last decade of Punk Rock Flea Market poster art in exhibition with attendees able to buy prints of his work. Bruneel’s distinctive deeply whimsical and surreal style has a a pop culture sensibility and gritty anarchistic flourish. Caricatures of notable punk music icons like Joey Ramone and Poly Styrene of X-Ray Specs appear alongside Bigfoot and anthropomorphized animals, while his light layered brush strokes and ample use of natural coloured tones lend earthiness and warmth. Bruneel and Soft Flirt’s Alayna Hryclik led a panel discussion on PRFM’s last decade. 

Day two of Punk Rock Flea Fest flowed onto Dundas Place, with  Sudbury hardcore band Constrictor opening on the grand stage with grit. Following Constrictor was the ever-deadly band Ribbon Skirt, a woman-fronted grunge punk band who sang about justice, memory, grief, Anishinaabe heritage, and decolonization. This set the tone for celebrated local band Status/Non-Status, led by Sturge of Rezonance Printing. Teen rock prodigies, Thunder Queens came on followed with a high-energy sound and technical prowess that left concert goers with the feeling that the kids really are alright. The OBGM’s brought brash courage, high tempo, and rage. Toronto band Cancer Bats closed out the evening on a loud high with their signature sludge sound and distorted textures. 

Day three of Punk Rock Flea Fest ran on Saturday September 26th, 11 AM to 4 PM, opening with Yoo Doo Right, who brought a high-tension wall of sound and noise. Bonnie Trash followed them, whose shoegaze-adjacent, doom infused chords lent an aura of foreboding to the day. Art punk Toronto band Bad Waitress played their usual demented best while promoting their upcoming drop In the Hollow, to be released next month. Big name UK band Subhumans then brought the classic punk sound, pleasing the entire crowd playing beloved favourites. Anti-Queens completed the live music portion of the street festival with garage punk aplomb. 

During PRFF’s festivities, the vendors associated with Punk Rock Flea Market across  the years were still present, including Attic Books and Assiniyiskew a local beadwork vendor ran by community worker Jenna Rose Sand. Local event organizer ‘Liminal As Hell’ created an immersive installation focused on nostalgia complete with a Cathode Ray Tube TV and vintage video games, pleasing adult millennials and their children alike. As with every Punk Rock Flea event, the skate jam lured people of all ages to grind and thrash. 

Free afterparties were held at Supply & Demand and DIY punk venue Honey Dip. 

What sets Punk Rock Flea Market apart from other London vendor markets through the years is its accessibility for emerging artists and artisans, and the authenticity of the art sold. The work you purchase at PRFM is always handmade through years of process and effort. 

There’s a real sense of closeness and interconnectedness when you buy from PRFM. Spending money at Punk Rock Flea Market goes directly back into our community. The clothing, jewelry, patches and other fun items connect the wearer directly back to London’s quirky and gritty visual identity. You can recognize another Soft Flirt shirt on the street, or the vivid coloured beadwork of Flourish and Grow. It’s a little part of what makes London, Ontario what it is, and, when you’re wearing it shoulder to shoulder in the mosh pit with your fellow local freaks, makes our city feel a little bit more like home.