The Brooklyn Free Store, via NYT

Maybe it’s the refreshing fall air or the persistent blech economic news, but folks in Brooklyn are acting mighty generous to each other this weekend with all these free shwag events. That’s especially true in Bed-Stuy, where two celebrations of freeness are planned Saturday: the grand opening of the Brooklyn Free Store, Bed-Stuy’s capitalism-shunning free-for-all; and the Swap + Meet, a “clothing swap social” at the Macon Branch of the library. Hey, looks like it’s finally time to take that trip to The Stuy you’ve been thinking about!

The Brooklyn Free Store, which has been in operation for a little more two months, will celebrate its opening Saturday from 2 pm-midnight with live music, free food, skill shares, face painting, silk screenings and, of course, a free trade that encourages patrons to “Take what you want. Share what you think others may enjoy.” Workshops include: bike basics, self defense, kombucha brewing, wine fermentation and more (full schedule).

The Swap + Meet, scheduled for 12 pm-4 pm, bills itself as a social gathering that aims to lessen the amount of clothing that ends up in landfills. It’s your basic swap format: bring at least one bag of unwanted clothes or accessories, walk away with new-to-you stuff from someone else. The event takes place at the Macon branch of the library, 361 Lewis Ave. at Macon Street. (full list of guidelines).

Last weekend, in every way. Photo by dennisandluba

Barely a week after its jam-packed season-opening weekend—replete with dance party, food-truck fest and pop-up swap—BKLYN Yard, the hipster hotspot on the Gowanus Riviera, is closed. According to a subscriber email blast from the good folks at MeanRed Productions, which runs the grassy space in Carroll Gardens, the group was handed its walking papers on Tuesday when their landlord renegged on their existing lease. In the note, MeanRed promised to keep fighting the good fight, reassuring its yardie fans that it will work to relocate and reschedule its summer programming. We sure hope so. Here’s the full email from MeanRed:

To our Yardies…

Over the past four years, we have worked hard to create BKLYN Yard. You watched us grow from a small unknown independent venue into a space that hosted the best tacos in NYC, incredible talent (Lee Scratch Perry, Kaiju Big Battel, Dan Deacon & Jose Gonzalez to name a few), the Sunday Best dance series, the Gowanus Harvest Fest, the BK County Fair, Score! Pop-Up Mega Swap, Parked: Food Truck Festival, and countless lobster bakes, pig roasts, BBQs and more. This past Memorial Day Weekend, we were so proud to open our doors and display all the hard work we have been putting into the space to make this summer even better…from our new bar, to our atm, to our bocce court. Thousands of you came out and supported us and made it one of the most beautiful weekends we have had yet, so we are sad to announce, that last weekend was the final weekend of BKLYN Yard in our Carroll Gardens home.

Our landlord of the past four years, who used to share our vision for BKLYN Yard, notified us on Tuesday May 1st, that they would no longer honor our lease which had been in place since early this year. They chose not to give us an opportunity to renegotiate, and requested that we take what we have built, and terminate all of our confirmed plans and schedule for BKLYN Yard this summer.

BKLYN Yard is a labor of love for MeanRed, rooted in our core company values: Love for artists, food, music and community. We are sad to see our passion project go in its brightest year, and are sad to let down all the people who have support and worked with us for the past 3 summers.

But if there is one thing we pride ourselves in, its our ability to think outside the box, to take a leap when there is no net, and to reach our highest visions. We wouldn’t be who we are if we let hurdles keep us down. If we can turn a dim sum restaurant into a nightclub, a loft into a members-only club, and a toxic yard into a beautiful summer oasis… we can do anything.

Rest assured, our renegade spirit and love for pop-up spaces will come alive again this summer — very possibly with the same collaborators and programming you see on our current schedule… And very possibly even better than we had planned before.

Doug Singer, Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter’s Sunday Best series will continue on at another location, including this Sunday with DJ Koze. You can keep an eye on them at  www.sundaybestnyc.com

In the meantime, we want to say:

With love,

Score! will host its latest pop-up swap meet at 3rd Ward this Saturday, and guess who’s part of the give-and-get action? Brokelyn! We’ve signed on as an official supporter of the event (along with L Magazine, Hearty Magazine, Impose, Girlie Girl Army and Yelp) because it’s got that sort of groovy help-each-other-out-while-helping-yourself-on-the-cheap vibe that we love so much.

The key deets: the event goes from 1 to 7 p.m. Saturday at 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Ave. in Williamsburg. Cover is $3.

Just in case you’re a noob, we’ll swap you some information on how these meets work in exchange for you passing this post along to your friends (See? You’re getting already). You first have to RSVP here. Then you go over to your closet/storage unit/bedroom of your roommate who is delinquent on rent and gather up anything you have that you’ve already gone off: clothes, DVDs, music, housewares, books, art, kitchen appliances, shoes … you get the idea. Then you bring them over to 3rd Ward on Saturday.

Swap categories include:
Clothing & Accessories (Guys, Gals, Kids) – curated by Nisha Gopalan (senior editor, Nylon Magazine)
Music – curated by Showpaper
Art Supplies – curated by Lowbrow Society For The Arts
Books DVDs / Media – curated by The Desk Set
Housewares & Miscellany – curated by Natalie Kamei

All the leftover goods will go to charity, and proceeds will go to City Harvest. After that, have at it! You’re free to rummage through the collected jetsam of the rest of the borough and take whatever you like. And you will likely find things you like. Someone in the Score! comments is promising to bring a bevy of colorful legwarmers, random comic books, and an old TLC CD.

Never fear (well, fear a little bit if that really is your costume idea): the good folks who organized last spring’s totally awesome, totally schwaglicious free swap meet on the Gowanus Canal are gearing up for a duo of new swaps for the holiday season, starting with a Halloween costume swap the week before All Hallow’s Eve. Yes, it’s a little early, but this is the year we’re not going to be cobbling together a costume at 4 o’clock the day of.

The Score! of Doom will be at the Trophy Bar (351 Broadway) on Oct. 24, from 2 to 6 p.m. Unlike the spring swap at BKLYN Yard, there’s a $10 cover (RSVP mandatory) for this one, something one of the organizers, Jenny Gottstein of MeanRed Productions, says is needed to help cover the venue costs (they were able to donate space at the Yard in the spring since they also manage it).

But the cover includes a free “specialty drink” and there’s the promise of other creepy themed drinks (plus … beer and shot specials, anyone?). They’re settng up three categories of swapping: full costumes; costume pieces (wigs, props, spandex); and makeup.

The way these swaps work is, you bring whatever junk you want to get rid of and have free reign to pick through the stuff other people brought. People at the spring event walked away with an impressive amount of goodies: from brand-new clothes, books and music to computer parts, furniture and art prints (this author snagged a deliciously triple-ironic, never-worn Busted Tee with the words “I bought this shirt at a thrift store” on it). In short, it could be a DIY costumer’s dream.

Then, on Nov. 21, another Score! is scheduled for 3rd Ward (195 Morgan Ave.) with broader, just-about-anything-goes categories of goods. That’s the place you should go to scour through mountains of the flotsam and jetsam of Brooklyn to find that super obscure 80s New Wave box set or fancy cocktail glass ensemble that will make your loved ones think you dropped some serious cash on them for their holiday presents.

(And if you did decide on that Kanye costume, we found a guide on how to go about it. Just don’t interrupt anyone else’s costume in the process.)

Photos by Tim Donnelly

Alex Leger, 24, assistant manager at Baked, Red Hook
Got rid of: Nothing: “I heard about this at midnight. I’m just here to take.”
Walked away with: New Ikea picture frames, art prints, a piece of a glass brick wall, a large wooden frame.  “It’s a project in itself just to refurbish it.”

David Trawin, 27, Jersey City, designer for Busted Tees
Got rid of: Several Busted Tees shirts, art books, prints that were around the house collecting dust
Walked away with: A Reader’s Digest Treasury for Young Readers “I’m always kind of on the look out for old science books. They’re good for design.”

Patrick Keene, 23, assistant editor at Birkhauser, Willamsburg
Got rid of: Books and records, including the Pretty in Pink soundtrack.
“I felt like I gave some good things.”
Walked away with: A small record player and several hair-metal albums from Kiss, Quiet Riot and Night Ranger, plus a copy of Bette Midler’s The Rose (“It’s for my roommate.”)

Callann Wolff, 21, student and model, Williamsburg
Got rid of: Sweat equity. She volunteered.
Walked away with: A bingo game to bring to a a bachelorette party in Pittsburgh next week. “I’m glad that something that’s ridiculous and of no use to someone else is of some use to me. It’s Pittsburgh, so there’s not really too much fun going on.”