If a flea market sells $200 silk tops, $3,000 tables, and hot Belgian waffles, is it really still a flea market? Yes, say Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby, the duo behind Brooklyn Flea, coming to Fort Greene starting April 6. Butler, who runs Brooklyn’s crown-molding-obsessed Brownstoner blog, and Demby, a former speechwriter for Marty Markowitz, have sifted through more than 600 vendors to make sure the market’s 200 spots are diverse, yet good. “Not everyone wants to buy an old doorknob,” says Butler. “But the last thing we want is a bunch of shitty crafts lying around.”

Every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the market will occupy the 40,000-square-foot schoolyard of Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School on Clermont Avenue, hard by DeKalb Avenue’s new “brunch row.” The idea felt like a no-brainer to Butler, who once threw a “salvage fest” in Clinton Hill, inviting vendors like Olde Good Things, Demolition Depot, and Silver Fox to lay out their rescued lintels and French doors. They’ll all be on hand for the first Sunday of the season, as will transplants from Manhattan’s rapidly shrinking Chelsea fleas, like artist Joseph Heidecker, and other artisans and merchants. Click through for some of the market’s most interesting offerings.
-TM

Map by Jason Lee