The Really Really Free Market in East Liberty on July 26, 2025. (CP Photo: Mars Johnson)

By Gavin Petrone, Pittsburgh City Paper

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.

(For more of the story, visit Pittsburgh City Paper.)

Gavin Petrone is a student at Point Park University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.