Written by Debbie Borek
There is nothing for sale at the Thurston County Absolutely Free Sharing Market, and that is exactly the point.
The sharing market is a celebration of a desire to freely share with one’s neighbors: underused goods, yes, but also food, skills and knowledge.
The original Absolutely Free Sharing Market was held in September 2025 in the parking lot of a local church, with a dozen tables and an idea no one was certain would work.
The goal was modest: get a few dozen people to swap items they no longer needed, cut down on waste, and build community in the process. Instead, hundreds of attendees showed up, parking spots for blocks were taken, and people left clutching bags of new-to-them treasures.
Many of the people who donated and shopped, went home and returned with even more to donate. No one fought — instead, they helped each other choose clothes and load furniture. The sharing market was intended as a one-off event, but people kept asking: “When is the next one?”
The Thurston County Fairgrounds had an opening on a Saturday, so the second Sharing Market happened a few weeks before the 2025 holiday season — a huge step up from the first.
A skill-sharing component was added where people offered lessons, mending and interactive experiences. Community members set up a food stand, and a talented carpenter built shelving and clothing racks to display the items.
There were free photo opportunities with an organizer’s pet goats. People were delighted with the masks-required hour, which one attendee said made the sharing market the only holiday event she could safely attend while battling cancer.
Buoyed by that success, the goal in 2026 was to turn the sharing market into a stable, self-sustaining effort. The biggest sharing market to date was held in April at the fairgrounds, and a mini market was held in June with the event space DECAY.
The next sharing market will be held the first week in September, and another will take place before the holidays with both at the farigrounds. The intention is to schedule the sharing markets at times when people are already taking stock of what they own and might need to purchase new items: spring, late summer and before the holiday season.
The sharing markets are designed as both festive community gatherings and mutual aid events. Top-down charitable setups are innately vulnerable — if something happens to the donor or sponsor, the entire system is at risk.
But an event like sharing market’s stability comes from the combined power of many people donating and receiving. The hope is that attendees at all income levels and stages of life will come and help themselves to items that are no longer serving the original owners.
In keeping with the intention of avoiding waste wherever possible, leftover items are distributed to other mutual aid partners or held for the next market. Only unusable items are sent to recycling or trash.
The most heartwarming aspect of the sharing market process is the outpouring of support and time from the many dedicated volunteers. The spring event logged more than 900 hours of very unglamorous work over a period of six days.
Some folks signed up for one shift of hanging clothing or arranging books and glassware, and then just kept coming back. Their enthusiasm and effort has grown the sharing markets from a well-meaning little pop-up to the sprawling, lively, multi-day celebrations they’ve become.
The next sharing will be held on Thursday, Sept. 3 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 5 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Donations will be accepted Aug. 30, Sept. 1-2. To find all the details, click here.
South Capitol Neighborhood Association 