Seattle, WA
Can the Punk Rock flea market save the soul of Seattle?
Strolling the commercial corridor atop Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on a recent Friday afternoon, I catch a cappella voices booming down the block: Every woman, every man, join the caravan of love …
It’s the unlikely siren song flowing from the open doors of the Punk Rock flea market. This offbeat, itinerant bazaar has been popping up here, inside a former supermarket, four times a year since 2024, filling the 20,000-sq-ft space left vacant when a Kroger-owned QFC suddenly ceased operations and moved out.
The $1 entry fee hasn’t increased since 2006, when the first Punk Rock flea market was held in an abandoned basement bar across town. After occupying 13 other locations around the city, including a former post office, a former drugstore and a former strip club, it’s now settled in its current home in Seattle’s historically queer arts epicenter.
I pay my way in with pocket change and step into a parking lot given over to dozens of booths, tables and a food-truck court. People of every age and shape mill about in the spring sunshine. Inside the building, DJ Port-a-Party slides from the Housemartins to Kermit the Frog singing The Rainbow Connection. Hundreds of shoppers and more vendors – 204 in all – engage in a bustling economy entirely of their own making. According to organizers, more than 8,000 people will pour through this weekend – a modest tally, which during December installments typically reaches into five figures.
Even a limited litany of items for sale would be too long for this article; suffice to say, the Punk Rock flea market is part renegade art gallery, part unfathomable yard sale and part curated vintage mall, overflowing with treasures and trash. Where the QFC’s produce section used to be, a woman shows artwork made from dried seaweed next to an anarchist bookseller next to a guy hawking carved wooden daggers. In the old storeroom, hundreds of Hot Wheels and action figures hang in a display reminiscent of a 1980s Toys R Us. Behind a bar that was once the deli section, volunteers serve beer and hot dogs. Every square inch of every vertical surface – and much of the floor and ceiling – has been painted, wheat-pasted, stickered and graffitied, the evolving contributions of hundreds of local artists, some commissioned, others extemporaneous. The crowd is equally spectacular, a parade of eye-boggling fashion and personal expression.
“I’m an ageing punk. I’m a weirdo,” says Ray Myzelle Bones, a regular Punk Rock flea market vendor selling lavender salts and sprays she makes on her farm outside the city. “This is a place that’s safe for neuro-spicy people. It’s also this current of community that people say we’ve lost, but we haven’t. It just lives somewhere else.”
The last 20 years have not been kind to the punks of Seattle. In that time, the US Pacific north-west’s largest metropolis morphed from low-stakes, overachieving cultural incubator to the US’s hub of neoliberal corporate capitalism. The cost of living has blown up by 78%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The city’s present status as the 12th most expensive in the world – unimaginable during Seattle’s grunge heyday – doesn’t leave much room for artists and freaks to live in the place they made famous.
The Punk Rock flea market has not only hung on for 20 years, it’s more popular than ever, seemingly galvanized by Seattleites’ acute desire for some kind of alternative economic reality. DJ Port-a-Party, aka Rob Zverina, cites the Punk Rock flea market as an example of Czech philosopher Václav Benda’s “parallel polis”, a self-contained society existing for and by itself as a mirror to the status quo.
What began as an anti-establishment endeavor has itself become the establishment, in the process deepening its community-minded values. The Punk Rock flea market operates as a non-profit that donates proceeds to Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute and includes as employees former unhoused people. It maintains a low bar to entry to allow for maximum accessibility. Attribute this ethos of community caretaking to Josh Okrent, the Punk Rock flea market’s founding punk.
“Punk stems from a musical style, but there’s an entire worldview that transcends the music,” Okrent, a 57-year-old father of two and longtime professional non-profit fund developer, tells me. “We are punk in that we are defining our own identity. We’re not political in terms of actively resisting anything, but we are organizing to trade among ourselves in a way that refuses to recognize any other order and makes no concession.”
An anti-capitalist marketplace?
“Trading is a natural human thing,” Okrent says. “It’s been going on since way before capitalism and will continue long after capitalism is dead. All the money is being kept in the community, and that’s the objective.”
Okrent’s affable guidance has seen the Punk Rock flea market through challenging times. After the market outgrew its original location, Okrent spent years moving it to a series of spaces left vacant by previous tenants before new development turned them into sprawling condos or expensive commercial real estate, resilient like a cockroach surviving repeated disasters. During the pandemic, it took over an abandoned Bartell Drugs, at 15,000 sq ft its largest footprint at that point, thanks to a boost from the city of Seattle’s Storefronts program, which paid the market’s rent. This location was ground zero for the collision of Seattle’s homelessness and fentanyl crises, in a downtown core hollowed by Covid.
“We had these people not only living on our doorstep, but dying on our doorstep,” Okrent says.
Ruby Tuesday Romero, who attended the inaugural Punk Rock flea market as a teenager and later joined the staff, led community outreach efforts. She responded to an electrical fire started by squatters and administered Narcan to people who had overdosed.
“As someone who’d recently exited homelessness, it was a really big deal for me to be a part of that community and try to help others in that situation,” she says.
Okrent credits lessons learned and credibility gained from the Punk Rock flea market’s 18 months downtown for leading to the market’s Shangri-la on Capitol Hill. Today, the Punk Rock flea market receives funding from 4Culture, an arts granting organization of the county, and is partnered with powerful real estate development firm Hunters Capital on the lease of the old QFC.
“The building was broken into several times and was in really rough shape,” says Jill Cronauer, chief operating officer of Hunters Capital. “So one of our biggest questions was, how is anyone going to take this space and make it work?” Okrent’s business pitch to Hunters included upgrading and securing the property as well as improving public safety by bringing life and culture into the neighborhood. Cronauer and her colleagues at Hunters were persuaded enough to take on the risk of a temporary tenant. “These guys are just so talented and creative and have such an amazing volunteer team behind them that they made the space what it is today,” she says.
In a city suffering from chronic vacancies and exorbitant rents, Okrent sees Hunters as an outlier, a real estate developer genuinely aligned with community needs.
“It’s rare that I have nice things to say about landlords,” he says, “but these guys have been fantastic.”
Okrent owns the Punk Rock flea market name as a business license in Washington state, but beyond that he takes no ownership of the concept; he says a Punk Rock flea market opened in Philadelphia in 2006, concurrent but unrelated. Over the last 20 years, he’s connected with organizers in London and Berlin and hosted exchanges with folks from Reno, all of whom now operate their own versions; more unaffiliated Punk Rock flea markets have opened in Toronto, Winnipeg, New Jersey, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and elsewhere. His paid staff of 11 meets weekly to plan events year-round, such as all-ages concerts, fashion shows and raves. In the Punk Rock flea market’s anarchistic form of governance, consensus happens through argument and compromise, decisions made collectively among staff, volunteers and vendors. They’re leasing from Hunters on a six-month-by-six-month basis, with plans to stay put through next year – or whenever it makes financial sense to begin construction on the six-story mixed-use development taking the place of the old building.
“There’s no amount of money that could replace the culture that we’ve created for ourselves,” Okrent says. “At the end of the day, it’s about the people who make it happen. We like each other and we like working together, and there’s something wonderful about coming together in the challenge of this abandoned building and turning it into something beautiful – beautiful by our standards.”
GRAHAM, Wash. – As Washington faces a spring with severely low snowpack, fire districts across the state are ramping up preparations for Wildfire Awareness Month. At Central Pierce Fire and Rescue, some of the most effective team members are focusing on prevention, through meal time.
Station 96, now affectionately nicknamed “The Goat House,” deployed a herd of goats to serve as official “fuel mitigation specialists.” These four-legged lawnmowers are tasked with clearing thick vegetation and maintaining the retention pond area around the station to ensure dry brush doesn’t become fuel for a potential fire.
The ‘G.O.A.T.’ of mitigation
While they may not look like your typical firefighters—and they certainly lack a sense of professional decorum—officials say the herd is setting a regional standard for wildfire prevention.
“They are the GOAT of […] fuel mitigation,” joked Wildfire Coordinator Jake Weigley.
The strategy is as practical as it is adorable. By having the goats graze the land, the department avoids spending crew downtime on weed whackers. This keeps firefighters ready for what they do best: responding to emergencies.
“It does save the taxpayers money, because our crews are able to focus on training and responding to calls,” Weigley said.
The “GoatFundMe’ account
Despite their official titles, these specialists aren’t on the public payroll. Their snacks, veterinary care, and general upkeep are funded internally through a “GoatFundMe” account, which is supported entirely by voluntary contributions from fire department and county employees.
The department hopes these stubborn workers will inspire residents to take notes on their own “defensible space” at home. Much like the goats clearing the field, fire officials recommend homeowners hardscape and remove any fuels that could carry a fire toward buildings.
A heightened season of awareness
The timing is critical. Following a winter with low precipitation, officials are on high alert for the upcoming fire season, though the full severity remains a question mark until the summer heat truly hits.
“We’re in a heightened level of awareness based on our snowpack and precipitation over the winter,” Weigley said. “But until fire season really gets started, we won’t know how severe it will be.”
Residents interested in meeting the herd can monitor the Central Pierce Fire and Rescue Facebook page for upcoming station events and community open houses. They ask to protect the goat’s health, you do not feed them.
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The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting from FOX 13 Seattle reporter Taylor Winkel.
Bryan Woo was the best pitcher the Seattle Mariners had in 2025 as they made their run to the playoffs.
He looked like that guy again on Wednesday afternoon.
Seattle Mariners 3, Atlanta Braves 1: Recap | Box score | Standings
Woo shook off a pair of recent shaky outings to go six scoreless, one-hit innings to lead the Mariners to a 3-1 win that clinched a series victory over the MLB-leading Atlanta Braves.
The 26-year-old right-hander worked around a pair of walks while tying his season-high with nine strikeouts.
Woo had a 2.25 ERA through his first five starts of the season, but he ran into trouble on Seattle’s last road trip, allowing seven runs on nine hits including four home runs at St. Louis on April 25. He struggled again last Friday, giving up four runs in the first inning and six runs total over six frames in a loss at home to Kansas City.
Those two outings pushed Woo’s ERA up to 4.61, but he lowered it to 4.02 on the year with his start Wednesday.
What Rowland-Smith sees in Woo’s recent struggles
With Woo dominant on the mound, the Mariners’ offense didn’t need to do too much to build a lead against the Braves. Seattle went up 1-0 when designated hitter Cal Raleigh came up with no outs and hit into a bases-loaded double play in the third inning, scoring catcher Jhonny Pereda.
Julio Rodríguez contributed with a little more volume in the sixth inning, blasting a 436-foot solo home run to center off of Braves starter Martín Pérez to put the M’s up 2-0. And after the Braves scored one in the eighth, team RBI leader Cole Young added some insurance by bringing home Josh Naylor home with his second double of the game.
The Mariners came back to beat Atlanta 5-4 on Monday, then had to bounce back Wednesday after falling 3-2 Tuesday night following Braves slugger Matt Olson’s go-ahead homer off of closer Andrés Muñoz in the ninth inning.
Seattle improved to 18-20 with the win, while the Braves dropped to 26-12. It was the first series loss of 2026 for Atlanta.
Houston Astros lose star Carlos Correa for season
The M’s are off Thursday, then begin a seven-game road trip at 4:40 p.m. Friday against the White Sox in Chicago. Mariners Radio Network coverage on Seattle Sports of that series opener will begin at 3:30 with the pregame show.
More on the Seattle Mariners
• Top prospect Colt Emerson snaps slump with HR, three-hit game
• M’s prospect Kade Anderson could benefit from new challenge
• Mariners place Gabe Speier on IL, add two lefty relievers
• Mariners showing some concerning signs on defense
• Seattle Mariners prospect Felnin Celesten on a tear in High-A
Seattle, WA
‘Clueless’ socialist Mayor Katie Wilson in hot seat after video of 77-year-old beaten in downtown Seattle goes viral
Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson is facing fierce blowback on social media after a 77-year-old man was seen on video being beaten by two individuals in a crime that was captured by closed-circuit television cameras, a tool that Wilson has denounced in the past as something that makes the community feel unsafe and “vulnerable.”
The elderly man was walking down the street in downtown Seattle last month when two men walking by him stopped, without any provocation, shoved him to the ground and beat him, KOMO News reported.
Ahmed Abdullahi Osman, 29, was later arrested and charged with second-degree assault, and police are looking for the second suspect. Osman was reportedly booked into jail the night of the assault and then released back onto the streets before a bail hearing.
“Turning on more cameras won’t magically make our neighborhoods safer, but it will certainly make our neighborhoods more vulnerable,” Wilson said in 2025 after Seattle City Council’s approval of expanding the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) CCTV pilot program, the program used to capture the video of this specific crime, according to KOMO News.
Conservatives on social media quickly pointed to Wilson’s policies, which have been much maligned as “soft on crime,” as a contributing factor, as well as her previous comments on CCTV.
“They elected a SOCIALIST,” Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez posted on X. “What did they think would happen?”
“Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson remains clueless on the job,” journalist Jonathan Choe posted on X. “So she’s allowing far-left activists to make public safety decisions for the city.”
“Go ahead and explain the ‘sOCiONoMic rOoT cAusES’ of this heinous crime,” Manhattan Institute fellow Rafael A. Mangual posted on X.
“Ahmed Abdullah Osman beat a 77-year-old in Seattle,” conservative influencer account End Wokeness posted on X in a clip that has been viewed over a million times. “Police ID’d him thanks to street video cameras. Mayor Wilson: ‘CCTV puts refugees at risk.’”
Wilson has amplified concerns from local activist groups that CCTV cameras will pose a threat to illegal immigrant communities.
“We are deeply concerned that the expansion of these tools will create an infrastructure where federal agencies can more readily target vulnerable communities, including immigrants and refugees,” the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Washington and the Church Council of Greater Seattle said in a letter last year.
The victim in the incident spent a week in a hospital after suffering a broken arm, knee and facial injuries, KOMO News reported.
Wilson’s office directed Fox News Digital to a March press release in which she outlined her position on the cameras, saying she is leaving the current cameras on but “pausing expansion of the pilot” program until “we have completed a privacy and data governance audit, and taken significant steps to strengthen our policies.”
Wilson acknowledged there’s “no doubt that these cameras make it easier to solve some crimes” that include “serious ones like homicides, but also, cameras are not the one key to making our neighborhoods safe.”
“I want to acknowledge that this is a controversial issue,” Wilson added. “For some people, seeing CCTV cameras in the neighborhood where they live or work or attend school makes them feel safer. For others, those same cameras make them feel less safe.”
“Those feelings are important, because our quality of life is partly about our feelings of safety or lack thereof, and our sense that our city is a welcoming place that is designed with consideration for our well-being and our humanity.”
Wilson continued, “But precisely because different people and different communities experience the cameras differently, it’s important to base a decision on more than feelings. It’s important to ground our actions in a thorough understanding of how the cameras are being used, of the public benefits they are providing, and of any harm they are causing or could cause.”
In a Tuesday press release, the Redmond, Washington Police Department announced the second suspect, Jes’Sean Tyrell Elion, was arrested with the help of Seattle police officers.
However, Osman is on the run and “currently wanted on a $200,000 warrant” and “officers are actively searching for him,” the press release said.
Last month, Fox News Digital reported on city advocates who say they are struggling to find solutions as homelessness and open-air drug use spread across Seattle’s streets, amid growing concerns about the direction of Wilson’s new administration.
“You can just see the foil is like blowing down the sidewalks like autumn leaves,” Andrea Suarez, founder and executive director of We Heart Seattle, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“Very common to see property damage of our parks and shared spaces. You can see Narcan is used to reverse an overdose, so you’ll see cartridges. But at least we’re remodeling the bathroom to be gender-neutral. I’m not [kidding] you, that’s where our priorities are.”
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