Fair Trade

We’re all familiar with the concept of re-gifting, which in this day and age of creeping recession has begun to make more sense than ever. But this afternoon’s Holiday Eco-Barter Market at the Mercury Cafe takes the idea of giving gifts that are new to the recipient, if not the giver, a step further: It’s an indoor yard sale where merchandise, not money, changes hands, and that’s not only healthy for your holiday-ravaged pocketbook, but it lightens your carbon footprint as well. So gather up all those pretty hostess soaps, knickknacks, unread books and hand-knit scarves in the color that’s just not you and bring them down to the Merc, 2199 California Street, and see what you can trade for.

Related Content

• Reader: Corey Elbin leaves big shoes to fill at the Mercury
  February 10, 2012
• Bring the Light
  December 15, 2011
• Mercury Cafe is a Five Points haven for veggie diners
  May 11, 2011
• Denver's Slam Nuba wins the National Poetry Slam
  August 15, 2011
• Tinny Dancers
  December 29, 2011

More About

• Chicago Mercantile Exchange
• Mercury Cafe
• Gifts and Gift-Giving

What not to bring? Just about anything you wouldn’t give as a gift in the first place: Used furniture or computers, weapons and drug paraphernalia come to mind, but the event’s organizers also request — and rightly so — that you leave behind any items that exploit women. We’ll leave it to you to figure what those would be. This free trading event, it seems, is all about fair trading.

The market runs from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.; for more information, send an e-mail to janeseverance@hotmail.com, or call the Merc at 303-294-9281 or 303-294-9258.
Sun., Dec. 7, 1:30-4:30 p.m., 2008