Cyren Romeo (they) founded A Big Gay Market in July 2022 at our first test event - A Big Gay Garage Sale - which attracted nearly 400 attendees and raised over $500 towards Camp Unirondack’s Queer Youth Advocacy Retreat.

After this event’s success, Cyren recognized the imminent need for more spaces beyond June for queer and gender-expansive creatives, makers, and community members to gather in joy. In April 2023, there was the first-ever A Big Gay Market in Washington Park in Albany, featuring 75 vendors across NYS and nearly 1000 attendees.

Since 2023, we have expanded to four larger markets a year in Washington Park, 10+ regional and curated pop-up markets throughout NYS a year, community creative programming, and a youth creative mentorship program. We have collectively raised over $20K towards the Camp Unirondacks Queer Youth Advocacy Retreat and various non-profits and community organizations across NYS. Since 2023, we have garnered over 10,000 attendees, 400 vendors, and numerous volunteers.

Every year, we are in resistance towards a national push for the queer and gender-expansive community to no longer be visibly joyful and living authentically. We are hope in action for a world where we ALL can be our silliest, most human, and exactly who we are in an affirmative and intentional environment.

We can’t wait to have you join our community! 🌈