The third iteration of the atlFREEfair is coming to the East Atlanta Village Farmer’s Market on Aug. 3 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This community event is part workshop, part clothing swap, part talent show, part cookout, part garden club — and totally free for those who want to participate (you can register here.)
The schedule for the summer fair includes lessons on the basics of herbalism, HAM radios and knot tying. You can learn what should be in your Go Bag for emergencies and how to crochet coasters. There will be free food and a free sale, where you can donate and pick up clothing, tools, toys, books, art supplies and more. At the mending station, volunteers can help you fix your well-loved textiles. The fair will also include free soil testing and a plant and seed swap.
“We need a free third space. It’s desperately needed. More and more folks are struggling, less of us are not struggling,” Sasha Von Hanna, founder of the atlFREEfair, said. “We need a place to come together and learn together. We have these age silos that happen in a lot of our gathering spaces.”
The atlFREEfair will have puppetry, poetry and music performances as well as hands-on activities for kids and adults, from screen printing to improv. Find the full schedule and details on what to bring on Instagram (@atlFREEfair.)
The idea for a family-friendly seasonal gathering where people could share skills, plug in with local mutual aid groups and nourish each other grew out of working with the Weelaunee Coalition for the last few years, Von Hanna said.
“I was in a burnout cycle with community organizing, because we were in constant response mode,” she said. “A big part of the fair was finding a way to be in resistance that accounts for my capacity.”
The atlFREEfair is an opportunity to get to know people from mutual aid groups caring for neighbors around Atlanta and beyond. There will be tables for organizations focused on science education, reproductive justice, feeding the hungry and caring for the sick. The Refaat Mobile Library, which has been coordinating emergency funds for the Sameer Project to help families in Gaza, will return for the summer fair.
The event is also radical in the way it puts the gift economy into action. Exchanges and reciprocity that don’t depend on monetary transactions happen at a small scale all the time, but the fair provides examples of how the gift economy can look at a community level.
“What I’ve found throughout all of this organizing is that… money is a workaround to relationships. I’ve gotten a lot braver in this process in asking folks to do things for free, which I was very hesitant and felt very uncomfortable with initially,” Von Hanna said. “It’s truly for community, and it’s about giving what feels good to give.”
The free fair is made possible by volunteers (you can sign up here to help with the summer fair) and donations to cover necessities like water and porta-potties (you can send donations via Venmo to @Lillian_Mason with the note “atlfreefair”.)
Von Hanna emphasized that there’s opportunity for everyone to share whatever it is they have in abundance — whether that’s time to help set up or break down, tents and chairs for the event, snacks, ice, knowledge or talents.
“Bring what you have to share. If you don’t have anything, you still are absolutely welcome. It is not a requirement to bring something to give to join us,” she said. “We just want to be together.”
The one thing you can buy with money at the summer atlFREEfair is a raffle ticket for the chance to win a bundle of art and art supplies while supporting the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. It’s the first time that the fair has included a fundraiser, and while Von Hanna doesn’t want to pressure attendees for money, she feels it’s important to support Atlanta Solidarity Fund’s mission during a time of more frequent protests and arrests.
“Planning ahead is hard for a lot of people in this current political climate,” she said. “We need this. Our community needs to get together and there are so many different ways for folks to have a moment of joy.”
