by Felice Leon
Only in Brooklyn can a random lot be turned into a beacon of awesomeness.
The Dekalb Market is, in fact, ‘awesomeness’. Passers-by, don’t be fooled by the modest façade. Step beyond the gate and find a lively community of entrepreneurs housed in shipping containers (as in huge steel receptacles for cargo that are often associated with freight trains), turned boutiques. This, friends, is an example of recycling at its best!
Nothing conventional. Nothing pretentious.
By day, this open-air market is a quaint and charming hangout that captures the artsy bohemian culture that Brooklyn has come to be associated with. Vendors sell food, wine, beer (there is a beer garden), clothing, jewelry, and other crafts in this ‘incubator’. By night, the Dekalb Market hosts several events during the ‘Friday Night Out’ and ‘Weekend Market’. Drawing some of the hottest local talent for events, bands and DJs are sure bring people to their feet. Oh, yes. It goes down!
This Sunday, the Dekalb Market hosted the Rong Music Summer Block Party featuring DJ Afrika Bambaataa. By night, bodies were rocking as DJs Spun, Tim Sweeney, Breakbeat Lou, and Shane O’Grady all took turns gracing the super eclectic crowd with their rhythms.
The scene was classic: Imagine Occupy Wall Street, meets the B-Boy Summit, with a twist of Soul Train. People came in droves to feel the funk of Bambaataa, a fixture in hip-hop culture, and would not leave despite the rain and lightning in the distance. These Brooklynites were undeterred!
The Rong Music Summer Block Party put a new spin on ‘dancing in the rain’. After all, if dancing in the rain is ‘Rong’, then who wants to be right?
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