Local Threads

Ever wonder how and who is behind your favorite local market? Today we get to delve into the Plymouth Punk Rock Market and its creator Leandra Kelly. Special thanks to Leandra for making a place for us weirdos and the ones who make weird stuff for us! 

Where to find our guest
https://www.instagram.com/plymouth_punk_rock_market?igsh=Z3ZjcmFncjJ1aGpw
Plymouth Punk Rock Market Linktree
Upcoming events:
June 20th Mayflower Brewing Co 12-5 Plymouth MA
August 29th Emerald Square Mall Attleboro MA

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Local Threads is produced, edited, and hosted by Molly Rae
Info@localthreadspodcast.com for inquiries
Music by: Moby Gratis

Creators and Guests

Host
Molly Rae

What is Local Threads?

Local Threads is a storytelling podcast documenting the voices of New England's creative community. Artists, organizers, and culture makers who shape spaces, movements, and shared experiences.

Molly:

Welcome to this surprise bonus episode of Local Threads. I'm Molly, your host. And this week I wanted to sneak in an episode because my guest has an event coming up. Leandra Kelly is a curator and invent mastermind behind the Plymouth Punk Rock Market and they're gearing up for a June 20 event. If this is your first time hearing about the Plymouth Punk Rock Market here in Massachusetts, It's a market specifically curated for the weird, weird stuff for weird people.

Molly:

Let's hear how it all got started and a little bit about Leandra. Stay tuned to the end for an exciting new development that may include a dying mall.

Molly:

Welcome to the podcast.

Leandra:

Thank you for having All

Molly:

the way from Plymouth.

Leandra:

No. I'm I live in Rochester.

Molly:

Where the fuck is that?

Leandra:

I know. I'm originally from Taunton.

Molly:

Okay. Yeah.

Leandra:

But you're not from here. So that does that mean anything to No.

Molly:

I know where Taunton is. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. How did you get started doing the Punk Rock flea market?

Molly:

So Actually, no. No? Let me not go I don't wanna go that far ahead. Okay. Are you born and raised in Massachusetts?

Molly:

Yes. And when did you start, like, in punk?

Leandra:

Oh, that's that's a good question. Okay. I'm fan of music in general, especially, like, any kind of rock and roll. Like, middle school, I was getting into punk, but like whatever was on the radio at the time. A big moment for me was when a friend introduced me to Bikini Kills music.

Molly:

Yes.

Leandra:

I remember exactly where I was, and she had a cassette tape Walkman with the foam headphones, and it was rebel girl, and I I had never heard anything like that. That was, like, such a mind blow. So that opened the door that there was there was stuff out there that I didn't even know I didn't know. Mhmm. And then it wasn't easy to go down the rabbit hole then because there was no Internet.

Molly:

Right. Yeah. You had to borrow your friend's tape

Leandra:

and then Yeah. And talk to people. Yeah. And especially, like, the older kids, like, they, you know, they knew more. So little.

Leandra:

Yeah. Yeah. Junior high.

Molly:

How about your family? What kind of music do they like? Were they into, like, rock?

Leandra:

Yeah. I have a lot of sisters, and my older sister, she was into the hair bands in the eighties. And so there was always music was always a part of the household. When did you

Molly:

go to your first concert? And who was it? Do you remember?

Leandra:

Not not really. There was a radio station, WBCM, that used to do a river rave, like, an all day festival every summer.

Molly:

That sounds fun. Yeah. River rave.

Leandra:

That was the name of it, the name of the festival. It was like a an all day thing at, Great Woods, I call it. I don't know what it's called now. Whatever the one is called in Mansfield. Yeah.

Leandra:

So the it was there, and there were two stages, and sometimes it'd be like a half pipe with skateboarders doing tricks while you're watching, you know That's so cool. Offspring or something like that. So I remember going to that when I was in junior high.

Molly:

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. But you were just mentioning off camera that your husband was in a band? Yeah. Is he still in one?

Molly:

Or

Leandra:

Yeah. I'm in it with him now. But that's What what do

Molly:

you play?

Leandra:

The keyboard, but that's No.

Molly:

That's fun. It's That's so fun.

Leandra:

It this is new. I'm not I have no musical talent. He writes the music and teaches me, and I just have to memorize it, which I do with the help of stickers on my keys.

Molly:

No. I have a guitar that I'm intent on learning, and I have to put stickers on it because I don't know what the chords are. Yeah. And I can't remember five minutes ago. And you just started in the band recently?

Leandra:

Oh, like a year and a half ago, something like that. Yeah. So he's been in band since the nineties, since I've known him.

Molly:

Did you guys meet when he was playing?

Leandra:

We met at the Taunton Mall when I was about 12.

Molly:

Oh my gosh. How cute.

Leandra:

Yeah. It's really exciting to me when I see parents drop their teenagers off at

Molly:

events. Yeah.

Leandra:

Because there isn't that mall rat anymore. So for them to have something to do and hang out and walk around for the day, I love that. I love seeing that.

Molly:

That's really cool. Thank you. I didn't even think about that.

Leandra:

Yeah. Because they're all ages. Yeah. Yeah. It's neat to see the teenagers that, like, you know that they got ready for that.

Leandra:

Like, they put their outfit together and yeah. That's, like, I that's exciting to me.

Molly:

Okay. So you're 12. You meet your husband at the mall. Mhmm. Was he playing music then too?

Molly:

That little?

Leandra:

Well, he's a couple years older. So yeah. So I at that point, he was already in bands. Yeah.

Molly:

Uh-oh. The cool kids. So you guys meet and obviously

Leandra:

We didn't go to the same high school. He I grew up in Taunton, and he's from Lakeville. And in Taunton, there was a studio. It's called River's Edge that was all band practice spaces. And upstairs for a little while, they had a a small music venue called Area six, where they'd have, like, shows there for $5 and stuff.

Molly:

So high school kids could go?

Leandra:

Oh, yeah. It was like a That's cool. It was such an amazing hangout, like, just to I

Molly:

missed out on so much growing up in those sticks. Yeah. Yeah. Went to the corner store. That was it?

Molly:

The corner store? Oh, no. The studio's where that's where it's at. Like, there was yeah. That was just Yeah.

Leandra:

Lots of shenanigans. It sounds like fun. Yeah. How many markets are there a year? Six.

Leandra:

Six. About every other month.

Molly:

Yeah. And that's at the same place, or do

Molly:

you have a different one?

Leandra:

I have had them at Mayflower Brewing in Plymouth, Barrel House E in Weymouth, and the Kingston Collection Mall. So Plymouth, Weymouth, and Kingston. That's it.

Molly:

That's your rotation.

Leandra:

Yep. So if you've been to an event that wasn't in one of those towns, then it wasn't my event.

Molly:

The original. So how did you come up with the idea, or how did you go from just liking punk music to starting a

Leandra:

punk market? So I lived outside Philadelphia from 2016 to '21. And while I was there, I started my Etsy shop, I saw, and I was vending at punk rock flea markets out there. And I had never heard of that. They're common out there.

Leandra:

They're like every hour and a half, two hours drive from each other spaced out. They're all different. They all have like a different feel to them. I was vending at some of those. And whenever I would talk about it with my friends here home, everyone would be like, what's that?

Leandra:

What is a punk rock flea market? And so I was like, well, why don't we have that here? Yeah. So I knew that we would be moving home eventually. So I started taking notes so that I could get it started when we got here.

Molly:

What's your Etsy name, by the way?

Leandra:

My Rock and Roll Baby.

Molly:

My rock and roll baby. Do you have your own Instagram for that?

Leandra:

Yeah. I don't really do anything on it.

Molly:

I was like, oh. It's pretty quiet. I feel like a jerk for not

Leandra:

No. Knowing this.

Molly:

I don't yeah. That's I've I've let the Etsy fizzle out. I don't blame you. There's always an extra fee for every everything you do to

Leandra:

help the goalposts, and it became like, okay. What is the point of this? It it just it wasn't it became very not worth the effort.

Molly:

So So what kind of stuff do you make, and when did you start sewing?

Leandra:

I started sewing when I was little, like, eight or nine. And I make clothes for myself, my kids, and but for the Etsy, I make stuff that doesn't have to fit. So Yeah. Accessories, tote bags, headbands, hair clips, stuff like that. Christmas stockings with, like, tarot cards on

Molly:

them or Oh, that's

Leandra:

so cool.

Molly:

So it's all very much under the same punk rock vibe.

Leandra:

Yeah. It's all music inspired, I guess.

Molly:

It's yeah. Weird. And when you started sewing that early, is it because somebody else was sewing in your house? Or you just really wanted to do it?

Leandra:

My great grandmother sewed. That's the only person I saw sewing, I think. I don't really know how how I I don't know. Don't know how I get started, but I did once I got to be, like, adolescent and and going to the local shows and Mhmm. You know, you're, like, cutting up your clothes and stuff like that, then I got more into it and trying to just, like, modify my own stuff.

Molly:

So they your parents got you a machine or whatever? That's cool. I had a machine when I was little. Where where so walk everybody through, I guess, like, how difficult it is to run a market because I I feel like people that are running markets, one, they're not they're not, like, forward facing. Like, people don't usually know who's behind the market.

Molly:

They just know the vendors and when to go and when to show up. I feel like it's a thankless

Leandra:

job, and it's hard. It's it is way harder and way more involved and time consuming than I than what I thought I was getting myself into.

Molly:

You gotta find vendors. You gotta find a venue. You've gotta negotiate a venue price, I'm sure.

Leandra:

Yeah. You gotta advertising. Yeah. Gotta pay for licensing and insurance and things of that nature. There's a lot of overhead that you

Molly:

Oh gosh.

Leandra:

You have

Molly:

to have a license?

Leandra:

Yeah. There's, yeah, there's lots of, like, legal logistics that I didn't know. I wouldn't know. Yeah. That was a lot of, like, figuring it out.

Molly:

I didn't know that you had bands. Oh, yeah.

Leandra:

The only time that I don't have bands is at Barrel House C. For the mall event, it's just like one guy acoustic type of thing. I can't have a full band there. But at Mayflower for the for the big indoor outdoor events, I have a full band. So those events so okay.

Leandra:

So just assuming that not everyone has been. Those events are during the day. It runs twelve to five. And for this for the warmer weather, I'll have about maybe 15 vendors inside, and then another, like, 50 something outside. And then two food trucks and live music.

Leandra:

For the mall event, it's about 85 vendors, live music, food trucks, and you can get a beer at the mall. There's a beer cart, Widowmaker Brewery. Mhmm. So you can get a beer and shop walk around with with your like, that was wild to me.

Molly:

I didn't know you

Leandra:

were in Massachusetts. That was really exciting to me. So That's wild. And then for the smaller indoor markets for the colder months, I usually also make a photo op of some sort. Like, at Barrel House z, I do about 35 to 40 vendors in there for the small ones at Mayflower.

Leandra:

Like, last weekend, I did I think it was 24 vendors there, so that was a real small one. But I do some kind of a photo op that I craft for just for fun. It doesn't cost anything to come and get a picture. For example, I made a six foot tall praying mantis. Oh, wow.

Leandra:

Yeah. That was that was fun. Yeah. And it was mostly pool noodles and spray foam to to make it. And then I used it a few times.

Leandra:

So for Valentine's Day last year, I made her a little Valentine's outfit and some, like, heart shaped glasses, and she was holding a severed head, stuff like that. Just something else for just to make it fun.

Molly:

Have have you got vendors that have been with you since it started?

Leandra:

Yes. Okay. That's another thing a lot of people ask, is it the same vendors every time? And it's not. There are a handful of vendors that do every single one.

Molly:

Mhmm.

Leandra:

Weird Records. We're I think it's Weird Media and More or something like that on Facebook and Instagram, but they've done, I think, every single event.

Molly:

And how long has this been going?

Leandra:

Coming up on four years.

Molly:

Oh, that's a lot.

Leandra:

So yeah. So they've done yeah. And they do they so they have vinyl records and, like, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, stuff like that. Rockin' Remains has done every single event, and she has she makes different stuff she has different stuff every time. Sometimes she has, like, sofa pillows with, David Bowie on them or something like that.

Molly:

That's cool.

Leandra:

And she makes travel mugs too or, like, prayer candles But you know what I mean?

Molly:

I'm not

Leandra:

sure if that's what

Molly:

you call But saying the same people just to be like, oh, the market's stale. The people that you have are creative as hell. Yeah. Thank you. It's not like you're gonna go there and be like, oh, you know?

Molly:

Yeah. Never.

Leandra:

No. No. So there's so I'll get I'll get new vendors in every single event. And then there's some that come and go that they you know, sometimes they're there and sometimes they're not. Yeah.

Leandra:

But for the number of applications I get, there's there's not enough room for everybody that wants to fend anyway.

Molly:

Which is good.

Leandra:

Yeah. And and also, I need to curate it. I can't just have it be first come, first serve where I'll have, you know, 75 painters.

Molly:

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It doesn't work. And they have to fit the theme too.

Leandra:

That yeah. That's another big thing that that people will apply. And, you know, I know it's disappointing when you're excited to get into event and you you don't, but it needs to be on theme. Yeah. So that's a thing too.

Molly:

Were there are there any people that help you with this, or is this all you?

Leandra:

For event days during load in, I have help.

Molly:

Yeah.

Leandra:

My husband and my best friend, and Alicia Thomas is a tattoo artist that vents with me, and she helps me with load in. I've also recruited my niece.

Molly:

So how long does it take to prep

Molly:

for a market before you're actually, like, loading in? Like or or you got it down now, but, like, originally, was it, like, super chaotic?

Leandra:

Like, the whole planning process, you mean, or the event day?

Molly:

The planning process.

Leandra:

I I mean, it takes the whole I spaced them out two months because it it takes that long Yeah. To to promote, to be able to get a

Molly:

Yeah. Turnout. Yeah. I think people take that for granted too. I mean, we all I mean, anybody that's consuming anything of anyone else's, don't they we don't ever realize how long things take.

Molly:

Like, this episode probably won't come out for a few months. Yeah. So it's the same type of thing.

Leandra:

And even with crafting, people think, you know, if, like, someone asked me to hem a dress, they they think that it's gonna take me fifteen minutes. Yeah. You know? Like, if you don't do it, then how would you know? Yeah.

Leandra:

Exactly.

Molly:

Yeah. Think I met you first when, it was the decorate your denim event Yeah. At the brewery.

Leandra:

Yep. That was with Malgoth Trash and and Cosmic Unicorns. They're business partners. And they both, they both make clothes, and they each have their own store, one in Worcester and one in Rockland. Mhmm.

Leandra:

And so I was doing some craft nights at Mayflower. That ended up being way more time consuming Yeah. Than I thought. So I'll I threw in the towel on that for a bit. Maybe I'll revisit it eventually.

Leandra:

But for now, I'm I'm putting that aside. But they were doing these decorate your own denim nights, and we decided to go in on an event together. And I had a good time.

Molly:

Yeah. It was fun. I still have my jacket. Of course, the the jacket that I brought doesn't fit me.

Leandra:

Oh, no. I'm like, wait. This is too tight.

Molly:

All that all that work. I don't have to crop it or something because Yeah.

Leandra:

You can make it work. Yeah. Yeah.

Molly:

That was really fun. And is it free to get in Yes. Market?

Leandra:

Yep. Always free to get in. I don't see that changing. I don't I don't want that to change. Yeah.

Leandra:

No. It's like such a huge part of it for me is the community and for people to have something to do. Yeah. That's, yeah, that's a big part of it.

Molly:

It's free.

Leandra:

Yeah. So for it to be free is that's important to me.

Molly:

Yeah. You never know who you're inspiring when you're, you know, putting those events on like that,

Leandra:

and Yeah.

Molly:

You get to walk around.

Leandra:

There's something that I say a lot is it's important to be around your people.

Molly:

Yeah.

Leandra:

I say it to my kids a lot. They're 11 and 13. And when I lived in Pennsylvania, it was really isolating because there wasn't much for my people out there. So when I would vend these punk rock markets out there, it was just like such a relief to be around Yeah. Like minded people for a day.

Leandra:

But, for these events too, I'll see a lot of, a lot of times I'll see like the teenager who you can tell is the outsider in general. Yeah. And you can see them kinda look around and be like, oh, like, there's more of me out here. And I'm like, this that is what it's about for me. Like, that's so important to me.

Molly:

Yeah. That's really cool. And also just introducing people to something new. They might not know they love it yet.

Leandra:

You know? And seeing different art forms. It's one, one vendor is Webs by Cinderella, and she preserves real spider webs. Mhmm. And then she'll make jewelry out of it or put it on an end table violin.

Leandra:

That's cool. Yeah. Things like coasters or or just in a frame to but, like, I've never seen that before. I before I found her. Mhmm.

Leandra:

So there's different there each time I'll see something, some kind of art that I'm like that's brand new to me. Yeah. So that's cool too. You're, you know, always learning something.

Molly:

What do you do for fun? When you're not doing the markets?

Leandra:

Music has always been my outlet. So yeah. So this is, so this just fits right in. But now that my kids are 11 and 13, they're able to go to shows with me. So that's really been neat for Yeah.

Leandra:

To see them see it as all brand new.

Molly:

So are you and your husband playing in the band? What's the name of the band?

Leandra:

Saint James and the Heretics.

Molly:

That's really cool. Thank you. Where do you play?

Leandra:

We don't do much. It's all play out every few months. But Yeah. Mostly New Bedford. So yeah.

Leandra:

So far.

Molly:

Is there, like, a bar there or something or venue

Leandra:

that's like The Port Farm Tavern, we've played a couple times. Oh. I do notice there are

Molly:

a lot there's a ton of there's a huge punk scene in New England. I'm just learning about the different areas and different like, there's a ska scene, which wasn't my vibe. Like, everybody knows the Mighty Mighty Boston's right now. Like, I didn't realize there's, like, a big punk scene in New Haven, Connecticut.

Leandra:

I didn't know that. Yeah.

Molly:

And just punk and metal and just music. It's a music scene, I guess. I won't say punk. Yeah. But I do feel like there are a lot of punk bands around here, like small ones, just like I've coming been seeing them on TikTok, which I don't have anymore.

Molly:

Wondering where I went, I don't have it. Deleted it. But, yeah, I just find it interesting because it's not what I would expect to be out here, but I also didn't know what to expect.

Leandra:

I think from being from hanging out at that studio that I mentioned Mhmm. And then being around all of those bands, so many of the people that I know from back then are still in bands now.

Molly:

Oh, that's cool.

Leandra:

So then it all, you know, branches out and connects. Yeah. Everyone is really connected in this area when it comes to music. But, yeah, there's still a lot of punk bands and a lot of metal.

Molly:

Yeah. Yeah. I'm surprised. I wasn't expecting it.

Leandra:

No. What were what were you expecting? I was just nothing. Okay. Gotcha.

Molly:

I mean, I've lived in places like Indiana where it's nothing Oh, yeah. Going on there.

Leandra:

Oh, okay.

Molly:

You know, like, I just assumed it was the same shit. You know? Like, I came in here blind, And that that's, I mean, really why this podcast exists because, like, wow. I was wrong. There's so much happening out here.

Molly:

Oh, that's great. Like, nobody ever sees it. I wouldn't know where to go see punk bands. Are there, like, really good punk bars or venues that are around here?

Leandra:

Yeah. So that's I'm I'm kind of out of the loop on that because my kids are little, so I can't be bringing them to that sort of shows. It's like the all ages shows are at the bigger venues in Boston and

Molly:

Yeah.

Leandra:

Type of thing, for bigger bands. But for smaller music venues in Warren, Rhode Island, the Galactic Theater always has it is cool. He always has original bands there. I mean, a lot of bars have music all the time, but it's cover bands. Yeah.

Leandra:

And at Galactic, he always has original acts, and it's, just a neat small venue. Mhmm. So I would recommend checking that out.

Molly:

So you said you play in the band. Music is your outlet. What else? What are you watching lately?

Leandra:

I have not watched any of it.

Molly:

What? I know. Why? I

Leandra:

don't know. I don't know.

Molly:

I need to. It's on my list.

Leandra:

Well, I mean, you said you're in your forties, so it takes place in the eighties. It's so nostalgic. I know. There's so there's so many references to all of the classics, like, you know, Goonies and ET and all that. I know.

Molly:

I need to do it.

Leandra:

I need to watch it. Even without the eighties, it's nostalgic to see the the adolescents being awkward.

Molly:

Yeah. Yeah. Just I'll watch it. It's great.

Leandra:

So who do you have at your market? So, like, vendors and bands and such. Okay. It's different each time. Malgoth trash.

Molly:

Mhmm. Cosmic unicorns.

Leandra:

Yep. Oh, you know what? There's, Plymouth Cope is a harm reduction, like, nonprofit, and I've had them at almost every event, and they give out free Narcan.

Molly:

Oh, that's awesome.

Leandra:

Yeah. So I'm, very proud of having them there. I'm proud to be associated with them.

Molly:

Do they get, like, training when they give it out?

Leandra:

Yeah. So when they the so the first time I met them, I said I was like, I have two little kids in my house. What happens if they get into the Narcan? And they were like, nothing. I'm like, okay.

Leandra:

Cool. Can I have some, please? So and they yeah. So they they'll educate on that too. And that's something that I'm always will say, like, if you have some questions, go and ask them.

Leandra:

Yeah. But they give out free Narcan and other other resources. So there's that. Jay of the dead is another another one of my favorites. He I don't even know how to describe what he does.

Leandra:

It's like horror. He he like corpses things. The quality is you could see it on a horror movie set.

Molly:

Oh, that's cool. So he does, like, special effects, like

Leandra:

Yeah. Like, on a props. Yeah. Starting with a plastic skeleton and then having it, like, mummified and decaying off of that.

Molly:

Oh, that's cool.

Leandra:

But it's, like, so lifelike. It's so cool. Okay.

Molly:

You had Wild Planet?

Leandra:

Yeah. Wild Planet Vintage. You know Yeah.

Molly:

She's so cool.

Leandra:

Oh, yes. That's actually I

Molly:

heard she was in a band too.

Leandra:

Yeah. Yep. And she is my kid's favorite vendor that every event, they're like, you should have Wild Planet. And Analog Ashley does tintype photos. So, yeah, she Does she bring a booth

Molly:

and everything?

Leandra:

Yeah. So she you can you can watch her do the whole process on the on the tin and see it flip from negative to positive in the chemicals. And she I always say she looks like a mad scientist because she has, like, the the light on her helmet. Like, you know what I'm talking about? So that's really neat to see.

Leandra:

Crack and Bone's metal art, he uses, like, trash metal and welds it together to to make art, like, mostly animals. He made a raven for me. Cool. Yeah. Purchased street records.

Leandra:

He's out of New Bedford. And yeah. So, anyway, those are some of my of my favorites.

Molly:

And what about the bands that you have?

Leandra:

So at this event this past weekend, it was all indoors, so it can really only have, like, one person. I had, the punk cellist.

Molly:

Oh, that's that's unique. Yeah. It is. Yeah.

Leandra:

He's a lot of fun. So he does punk covers on his cello. So that's neat to hear, like, bad religion songs on a cello. Yeah. And for the outdoor events, I've had, Sour Punch.

Leandra:

I think they're out of Providence. All Along, Bright Idea, Diablo Gato, Man v Ghost, Saint James and the Heretics has played. The McGunks.

Molly:

It's been quite a lot. That's awesome. Yeah. Did you start out at the Mayflower?

Leandra:

Yes. So, yeah. So it was, like, four years ago that I I went to Mayflower, and I met at that time, their event managers was, Sarah. And I was like, I I just moved back here from Pennsylvania, and I have this idea. And she was like, okay.

Leandra:

And I was like, really? Like, okay. Yeah. So then the first event, I had 25 vendors, and that was like a struggle.

Molly:

Yeah. Because you have to get people to know you even more. And

Leandra:

Yeah. Just trying to explain to them what I'm going for, and just trying to get a vendor to do an event that's the first time, you know, they they don't know if it's gonna be worth it. And that first one was a really good turnout considering that it was the first one. It definitely exceeded my expectations. Boston Groupie News came out to that one.

Molly:

What is that?

Leandra:

It's an online magazine. It used to be a physical magazine, but now it's only online. And so they showed up at that one. That sounds cool. Yeah.

Leandra:

So it was exciting to me.

Molly:

Come up on my feet.

Leandra:

I'm pretty Follow-up.

Molly:

I thought I was tapped in.

Leandra:

Yeah. So that it's just all music all music related news. What's it called again? Austin groupie news.

Molly:

Yeah. I'm gonna follow them. Yeah. So yeah. So they

Leandra:

showed up at that first event. And then after that, the second event more than doubled. And then by the third event, I was maxed out at Mayflower. And then now doing it at the Kingston Collection Mall, I'm able to do more than I can at Mayflower. That's awesome.

Leandra:

Yeah. Thank you.

Molly:

Has there been a moment where you're like, this is fucking awesome that, like, stands out at all?

Leandra:

It's it's really any time that's that someone expresses gratitude. Yeah. What I get I get messages online Mhmm.

Molly:

From people or it's just

Leandra:

someone stop stopping me to say thank you for doing this.

Molly:

Goes a long way.

Leandra:

That may yeah. Because it it it is so stressful that it's like every time I'm like, never again. Yeah. Yeah. And then when someone stops me and was like, we needed this.

Leandra:

Thank you so much. Then I'm like, okay.

Molly:

Yeah. Keep going. It literally is like that. Same with the pod podcasting. Yeah.

Leandra:

Yeah. I bet. It's like, okay. What

Molly:

I'm What am I doing? Yeah. I can't even form sentences. I don't know how to use any of this equipment. Yeah.

Molly:

But, yeah, that that's definitely relatable. And I think people need to hear that, especially other people that are doing markets. Shit ain't easy.

Leandra:

Yeah. There's always some, like, narrowly avoided disaster every time. Yeah. And it's always something that no amount of planning could have foreseen. It's always some something, like at, at Mayflower for the outdoor events, there's always, like, some kind of a parking catastrophe.

Leandra:

Like, one time, there was a truck with a dead battery in the parking spot. I'm like, hey. I'm gonna have to work around him. Just figure this out on the fly. It is always, like, stuff like that that something something happens that it's like, okay.

Leandra:

This you just gotta you just gotta figure it out.

Molly:

I couldn't do it.

Leandra:

She was

Molly:

I I think I went to two markets as a vendor, and I was like, I can't do this shit. So the people that do the do them,

Leandra:

it's It's a lot of adrenaline as a vendor even. Because, know, you're oh, did I forget my table? Did I forget my sign? Do I have my card reader? And I need to make change, and, oh, you know, I forgot my tent.

Leandra:

And you're yeah. What if I don't sell anything? What if you know? And there's so much, leading up to it, but then, obviously amplify that when every everybody's looking at you and it's your event.

Molly:

Yeah. It's it's a lot. Yeah. I can't imagine the stress because

Leandra:

I don't sleep for, like, two days. Yeah. Like, no to each event.

Molly:

Yeah. Because you you market it. You promote it. You have everybody else promote it, and they have to promote it if they want people to come. You know?

Leandra:

Well, yeah. I mean, people do. I it's my job to promote, but it but the vendors yeah. I mean, it's They still

Molly:

gotta say it's way they're gonna be.

Leandra:

Yes. It that's nice when they do. It's appreciated.

Molly:

It's really cool that you have people that have stuck with you since the beginning. They believe what you're in what you're doing and and the crowd and, like

Leandra:

Yeah. Everything. When I put out an application for an event, at the twenty four hour mark, I usually have over a 100 applications. So I I feel bad when people are messaging me being like, I didn't get a chance. And, you know, it's like, there's just and I wouldn't I wouldn't wanna do an event with over a 100 vendors because I think then there no matter how many shoppers there are, it still is not enough spending money to go around that many vendors.

Molly:

So Yeah.

Leandra:

Not a bad problem to have,

Molly:

though No.

Leandra:

To have people wanna get in.

Molly:

Yeah. For sure. Especially because you can be like, hey. Not here, but over at Kingston or whatever.

Leandra:

There's more room. Is it Kingston? Kingston Collection. Yeah. That I have an event coming up there in April, and that one will have about 90 vendors.

Molly:

So What about your summer and fall?

Leandra:

At Mayflower, the outdoor ones, I do about 70.

Molly:

And when when are when are the

Leandra:

June 20 and October 10.

Molly:

You went to fashion school?

Leandra:

I did an associate's in in fashion. Yeah. I thought that if I did really well, that that would get me, you know, the edge over the competition and that that would make a difference, and that turned out to not be Yeah. The case. And I got a couple fashion jobs and absolutely hated it so much.

Leandra:

What were you doing? Like Pattern making. Yeah. Yeah. Math in a cubicle on a computer.

Molly:

Gross. Yeah. That's what I hear from a lot of people.

Molly:

Yeah. So if you're going to

Molly:

fashion school, just know you're probably gonna be making tech packs.

Leandra:

And, yeah, doing math. So if you like doing math on a computer, then fashion works for you. No. Thank you. Nope.

Leandra:

I don't

Molly:

wanna do any math.

Leandra:

No. So then after that, I was a waitress and then bartender. So my background is mostly in bars.

Molly:

Mhmm.

Leandra:

And that multitasking and Yeah. The speed of a bartender is a lot. And, yeah, doing 75 things at once.

Molly:

Yeah. I can't do that.

Leandra:

That that has translated really well into the markets. I don't think that I would be able to do this

Molly:

Yeah. If I didn't have That's a good comparison, actually.

Leandra:

Yeah. And just being able to like, I'm I'm focused on this thing, trying to get figure out this problem right now and then someone else caught and being able to redirect. Yeah. I see that some people aren't able to do that. Yeah.

Leandra:

And that that comes naturally to me because of my my background in Yeah. Waitress and bartending, and also with the people. Like, obviously, to be a bartender, you have to like people. Yeah. So that's the other thing with doing the markets is I'm happy to see the vendors coming back, and I'm happy to see the shoppers that have introduced themselves, you know, and that I actually like people.

Leandra:

So Yeah. That's

Molly:

definitely a bonus. Yeah. At any point during the day, do you are you like, okay. I got time to relax? Or do you just

Leandra:

On an event day? Yeah. No.

Molly:

Nope. Dang. Yeah. You must crash for several days after that.

Leandra:

Yeah. It takes me like forty eight hours to get back to a baseline because like from from that kind of like an adrenaline rush for for that long. I mean, because even the day before the event, I'm not even sleeping because I'm like Yeah. You know? So then after the event, it takes me a couple days just to, like, get my head back on straight.

Leandra:

So

Molly:

Yeah. I bet. Oh my god. I definitely could not bartend. I've no I waitressed in high school.

Leandra:

Yeah. It was terrible.

Molly:

They put me behind they put me back on the dishes. No. And I was like, thank god.

Leandra:

I've done I've worked in bars and restaurants for a total of something like seventeen years, I think. Yeah. I'm just made for that.

Molly:

I'm made for the back of the house. Get me out of here.

Leandra:

I don't know what it is.

Molly:

Maybe it was because I was, like, 17 and it scarred me because I was like, you know how it is.

Leandra:

Yeah. Someone tells you that you're not good at something.

Molly:

Or no. They're just like,

Leandra:

honey, sweetie, fucking Oh, Shut up. Yeah. Yeah. You better be opening your wallet if you're gonna talk

Molly:

to Yeah, exactly. It gave me the ick very early and I was just like, I feel weird. And the first day I remember, I was just a buster in a dishwasher. I knocked down all the bowls. Oh, wow.

Molly:

They were like these wooden bowls stacked behind the counter, and they went freaking everywhere. That whole restaurant turned around and looked

Leandra:

Oh my god.

Molly:

Also, this was disgusting, and this is random and has nothing to do with anything, but I worked this place I worked at did fried fish, common southern place, and they would if you didn't eat all your fish,

Leandra:

they'd reframe and put it on somebody

Molly:

else's plate. Oh

Leandra:

my gosh. I've never seen that. I've never seen that. That is wow. That's really gross.

Molly:

It is. And at the end of the night, he'd give me a bag of it, and I would still eat it.

Leandra:

But you gotta do what you

Molly:

gotta do.

Leandra:

Yeah. Whatever.

Molly:

Was there something that was difficult that you didn't expect to be about putting together a market?

Leandra:

Something that was difficult has been booking the bands because, like, yeah, it's live music, but it's not not going to a show. Mhmm. So it can't really be totally full volume. Yeah. There's still it's it's a social event.

Leandra:

People still wanna talk, and the vendors are still trying to make a sale. And and so trying to find bands that are like punk, but not not like the casualties, punk like the Ramones. Yeah. So trying to find that, like, it's gotta be kinda specific. That has been way more difficult than I thought.

Leandra:

And then second part of your question, how did I did I what have I learned? Something I didn't expect to learn? A lot of legal stuff that

Molly:

Yeah. I would imagine.

Leandra:

Yeah. But also, like I was saying how when I lived in Pennsylvania and in the New Jersey area, there's these punk rock flea markets. My favorite one was Phoenixville punk rock flea market. Oh, and they're all out there. It's all flea mark punk rock flea market.

Leandra:

Mhmm. I dropped the word flea, and that I thought that dropping the word flea kind of gave a better idea of what to expect. Mhmm. That was confusing to me when I first heard about it in Pennsylvania. I was like, what is that even?

Leandra:

What are we even talking about here? Yeah. So figuring out what what the people wanted Mhmm. And then going away from my vision and what I what I had envisioned, what I thought it was gonna be, that just kind of figuring out what people like, getting the feedback on on the bands too, and just what what people wanna see. Mayflower's been wonderful, and that is the market's home.

Molly:

Yeah. Well, I love a a market that's got great parking, easy access.

Leandra:

Like Yeah.

Molly:

Plenty of beer if you like beer.

Leandra:

Yeah. And the purple drink if you don't like beer.

Molly:

Are all your markets pretty standard on the time frame? Like

Leandra:

Twelve to five. Every other month. So Okay. Yeah. I it's not like, I I do a Christmas market, a Halloween market every year, and then I'm kinda just I kinda just figure it out as I go along for the rest.

Leandra:

So because I'm also I'm going along the venue's availability.

Molly:

So so

Leandra:

give or take.

Molly:

That's cool. What about your kids? Do they think you're cringe or cool? Do they like the punk rock market? They love it.

Molly:

Okay.

Leandra:

They love it. They look forward to it. They no. They won't admit that anyway. My older daughter, though, just in recent months has decided that her dad is cool.

Leandra:

Oh. But I'm not I'm not there yet. Yeah. I just I've been I've been trying to tell her, and she just agreed with me on him, but I'm not sure it's ever gonna happen that they'll think I'm My friends tell them stories and they're like, no.

Molly:

They don't wanna hear it. No. But they love the market. So that's a win. Mhmm.

Molly:

Thank you so much for being here.

Leandra:

Thank you for having me.

Molly:

Thank you for checking out this week's episode. Check the show notes for where to find the Plymouth punk rock market schedule. If this episode got you jones then for the next market, you're in luck because it's on June 20 as I said in the intro at Mayflower Brewing Co in Plymouth from twelve to five. It's all ages. They'll have 65 vendors, live music performances from Sour Punch and Little Low, food trucks and more.

Molly:

Okay. Are you guys ready to be super pumped? Because I know I was when I heard about it. Leandra scored the Emerald Square Mall in Attleboro for a market on August 29. So mark your calendars and show up.

Molly:

If you're a vendor and you wish to apply, check the show notes on where to contact. And I hope to see you all at the upcoming markets. Okay. Bye.