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Market time at Toejam

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

ARE you looking for an alternative, slightly left-of-centre way to spend a Saturday afternoon that will cost you nothing?
What about a visit to an open air market that would more often be found in a city like Amsterdam than dear old dirty Dublin.
Known only as ‘Toejam’, the market/car boot sale/consumer utopia is in existence less than a year but has grown, primarily by word of mouth, to become an original, inventive and hugely friendly place to visit.
“We haven’t done any official advertising,” says John Mahon, who along with his partner DJ Chewy runs Toejam.
“The idea has grown primarily by word of mouth and we are getting more and more quality stallholders involved after each event.
“People take stalls for all kinds of reasons, for instance there’s one guy here who is planning a trip to New Zealand and is trying to raise funds.”
John is also proprietor of the Bernard Shaw Public House located on South Richmond Street in the heart of Portobello and in whose gaze Toejam occurs.
If you have trouble locating Toejam just look out for the glorious murals that surround the market, all done by local artist Masser.

Indeed the market, situated as it is beside the Arab shops on South Richmond Street and the Sean O’Casey flat complex, adds a splash of much-needed colour and bonhomie to the area.
“It’s much more than just a market, as you can probably see,” says John.
“It’s an all day event with the market running till 7pm. Then we head indoors to the pub where there’s bands, DJs, music lectures and workshops on t-shirt printing and badge-making.”
A wide variety of interesting people take stalls at Toejam including Aideen English, an architect by profession, who lives in Kenilworth, Rathmines.
“I’ve just split up with my boyfriend so maybe this is a form of therapy,” she laughs.
Aideen has a large selection of second hand clothes and shoes for sale, along with some homemade jewellery.
“Some of this stuff was bought at good markets in Amsterdam and there’s some really nice shoes there. But it’s really all about having the craic and a good day out.”
Dave Taylor, from Fairview, says he sees the market really taking off in the coming months.
“With all this talk of recession this is the ideal place to come and buy or trade your goods,” says Dave.
“Not only will you find something you like but you’ll also make new friends, maybe people with similar ideas to yourself. It’s a really nice day out and a good vibe.”
Wandering around Toejam, you do get the feeling that the traders are not there primarily to make money.
And John Mahon is anxious to point out that he isn’t out to rip anyone off, be they stallholders or visitors to Toejam.
“We’re really trying to make it a quality event. For instance the food available, we have the Cake Café selling their wares and a stall doing really good Falafel, meanwhile DJ Chewy spins the sounds all day long,” he says
“I think if this enterprise were just about making money people would pick up on it very quickly and lose interest.”
Elsa Green, from East Wall, is busy erecting a clothesline full of second hand clothes for sale.
“But I’m also a face painter and I hope to get that up and running later in the day,” she says.
“This is my first time at the market and it’s been quite a learning curve you could say. Next time I’m going to come more prepared. But the weather has been really lovely today.”
Jane O’Brien, from Rathgar, thinks the vibe at Toejam is unique.
“I can’t really believe that this is the only market of its type taking place in the city,” says Jane.
“It seems so simple to create a space where people like to come to buy and sell or just hang out and enjoy themselves, but Dublin doesn’t seem to have a great tradition of stuff like that.
“My parents have told me about the Dandelion Market on St Stephens Green during the ‘70s, that was probably the first market of its kind in Dublin, wasn’t it?”
The next Toejam takes place on Saturday August 2 from 1-7pm.

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