Hordes of visitors gathered in fire-ravaged Eastern Market on Sunday in an annual weekend flea-market celebration made bittersweet by the partial destruction of one of the area’s most beloved landmarks just a week before.
The 44th annual Friendship House Market Day — a vibrant mass of vendors, pedestrians and performers that snakes across Seventh street in Capitol Hill — was dealt a tragic setback when an early morning electrical fire swept through the historic South Hall on April 30.
Market Day coordinator Freda White, however, said there was “not really any talk of canceling it” because of the blaze.
“We are a big community,” she said. “We need to show unity in this regard.”
Curious attendees lined up for a glimpse of South Hall’s interior, which once housed meat, poultry and produce merchants but now sits charred and empty. Directly outside, volunteers with the Capitol Hill Community Foundation worked under a red tent to gather donations to aid the displaced vendors.
The day before, the group raised $12,000, and they saw an even busier day on Sunday, said Gary M. Peterson, who heads the fundraising efforts. With merchants still assessing the damage, he said the amount the foundation will seek to raise is not yet determined.
“The merchants have been in shock over the last week,” he said. “It’s only yesterday or today that they’ve started to identify what they need.”
Mayor Adrian Fenty, who made an appearance at the event on Sunday afternoon, has pledged to rebuild South Hall at a price of $20 million to $30 million.
The fire was one of two that took D.C. by surprise on Monday. A separate blaze tore through the Georgetown public library branch hours later. No one was injured in either fire.
Danny Gottovi, 40, who pushed his 18-month-old son Drew in a stroller past South Hall on Sunday, said he was “very happy” Market Day organizers decided to press forward with the event. Gottovi lives a short distance away and did much of his grocery shopping inside the hall.
“I’m glad Market Day continues,” he said.
