In Liberty Green park, there are not many trees.
That can be troublesome on a 90-degree July afternoon. But refuge from the sun — along with books, clothes, and condoms — could be found Saturday, July 26 at Pittsburgh’s Really Really Free Market (RRFM), completely free of charge.
The Free Market, a play on the libertarian economic model of the same name, welcomed everyone from mutual aid groups to basement-cleaning neighbors to gather in East Liberty and give stuff away.
“I find that non-hierarchical structures are actually more meaningfully supportive to communities,” Sidney Rose, lead organizer of Pittsburgh’s RRFM, told Pittsburgh City Paper.
“It’s not someone saying, ‘I’m going to do this for you and you can thank me for it.’ It’s saying, ‘What do you need? You tell me, and I’ll be able to provide that need for you,’” Rose said.
RRFMs, at least in the U.S., first appeared over 20 years ago in San Francisco to protest the 2004 G8 Summit held there. Since then, the idea has spread globally.
Pittsburgh’s chapter first popped up in late April of this year. Rose said that, despite the harsh cold on its first day, the market still saw nearly 400 visitors.
“There’s always been a very strong need for mutual aid,” Rose said, “but I think especially in these times where we’re all starting to really comprehend what it means for the government systems to not be adequately supporting communities, we have to embrace being a good neighbor and being here for each other.”
The market was a sound opportunity for people like Brad Yock and Lydia Ponticel of Kennedy Township to ditch the Goodwill middle-man and give their things away personally, the two told CP.
“[We’d rather] directly get it to people who really seem to need it more, [rather] than just trying to make a quick buck at a yard sale,” Yock said.
The two sat under umbrellas at the helm of a grey tarp with several scattered items strewn across it. They told City Paper that the tarp was full at the start of the market hours earlier.
Ponticel echoed the motto of RRFM: “The more we share, the less we need.” It’s “very true” to her.
“Everyone should do this more if they can,” Ponticel said.
The anti-thrift sentiment was also strong with Conscious Costume, a mutual clothing aid group based out of Chicago. The group had a RRFM table with racks of free clothes, which were leftovers from an April clothing swap.
Kristen Ahern, an organizer with Conscious Costume, said she disagreed with many thrift stores’ respective business models, highlighting that only a portion of donations are actually sold to those in need.
“I don’t want to take it to a thrift store … And this [RRFM] seems like a really good way to get it straight into the hands of people who want it and need it,” Ahern said.
Michael Gibson, another affiliate of Conscious Costume, said he found the reactions of some market-goers to be amusing.
“I have found that folks who are more economically disadvantaged seem to be more enthusiastic about taking free things,” Gibson said. “Whereas folks who do have resources tend to be confused by it … But it’s fun to bring that little bit of anarchy to their day.”
But the RRFM’s inventory wasn’t limited to the yard sale sort of items: Alecia Ott and her Auto(nomous) Body Shop showed up to give away condoms, Plan B, Narcan, and other reproductive health items.
Ott said that now, more than ever, mutual aid is needed in the U.S.
“It’s long been obvious that people can’t really rely on the state to help,” Ott said. “Especially now, given all the cuts and everything to funding. We don’t even have a Department of Education anymore.”
East Liberty neighbors showed up to peruse throughout the day, among them Commodore Wright, 60. Wright had no complaints about the market.
“I mean, it’s great because it’s all free,” Wright told CP.
The location of the market was no coincidence, according to Rose, who herself lives in East Liberty.
“Being able to reinvest back into this community, I think, is really meaningful,” Rose told CP, reflecting on decades of gentrification that East Liberty has experienced. “And especially as a white person living in East Liberty, I think it’s important to invest any amount of labor that I can for it.”
Gavin Petrone is a student at Point Park University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2025.
