The Punk Rock Flea Market isn’t your grandma’s craft fair.
When founder Ashley Caruso first dreamed up the annual event in 2009, she called it her “introvert convention,” a place where Knoxville’s creative oddballs could come out of hiding and finally feel celebrated.
Sixteen years later, the market has grown into a mash-up of makers, misfits and music, drawing thousands each year while keeping its original spirit: no resellers, no gatekeeping and no discrimination.
Just a celebration of local art in all its strange and beautifully rebellious forms.
Caruso laughs when she admits she’s “a creep about vendors.” Her rules are simple: no resellers, only original makers. And she goes out of her way to include artists who might be excluded from more normative markets.
“This is the place where people can feel cool about being fully themselves,” she says. “Hold hands with your lover, wear your furry mask or your skirt—whatever. That’s the spirit of Punk Rock Flea Market.”
Caruso hasn’t built it alone. Chris Rusk joined her in 2016, booking bands and cutting through the red tape that comes with a crowd this size.
Together, they’ve grown PRFM into one of Knoxville’s loudest, most diverse traditions.
This year’s vendor list is stacked, and while it’s impossible to capture everyone who makes PRFM what it is, a handful of artists shared the scoop on the kind of energy that defines the market.
B Bray (HAUSKAT)
After years of painting pet portraits, Knoxville artist B Bray reinvented himself in 2025 with HAUSKAT, a project blending “whimsy, nerd culture, nostalgia, dark aesthetics and social commentary.”
He calls himself an “A/B/C artist,” working across apparel, board and card art—from hand-painted jackets to skateboards and trading cards.
This will be Bray’s second year at PRFM, but his first presenting work under the HAUSKAT banner.
“Sometimes it’s the spookiest-looking folk that project the most unbound kindness,” he says. “PRFM is a reflection of that.”
He also sees the market as uniquely Knoxville.
“More than any other event we have, PRFM showcases both the Maker City and the Scruffy City perfectly and simultaneously.”
Find Bray’s work at hauskat.haus or on Instagram @hauskat.haus.
M. FERSNER (HAGCULT)
Fersner is a traditional ink illustrator whose work pulls from horror, cult cinema and pop culture. Her dark, detailed drawings push the needle toward the macabre.
This is her second year vending. For Fersner, the highlight is “getting to meet such a unique blend of people and seeing everyone come together to enjoy music and support local small businesses.”
Compared to the conventions where she usually shows, PRFM draws a different kind of crowd. “It exposes people to new kinds of art, music and independent businesses,” she says. “That inspires both attendees and vendors.”
If you’re wandering the flea, she recommends stopping by Goblinhaus, a booth she calls a must for Halloween lovers.
You can find her work at hagcult.bigcartel.com.
Adam Deal (Part Flamingo Press)
Adam Deal has been drawing since he was 3. His mom still has the spiky green lizard he sketched in a baby book.
These days, he’s working on a Southern-themed comic anthology told in four short stories, using his signature mediums: ink and watercolor.
Deal also dabbles in plaster sculpture, including a Lovecraft-inspired Cthulhu, custom paints jackets and bags, and creates album art for reissued video game soundtracks on vinyl.
He illustrates “strange fiction in limited editions” for Part Flamingo Press, a project he co-runs with his partner Eleanor Scott.
Together, they’ve released Knoxville Mermaid and Dreams in the Witch House, with more in the works.
Deal first vended at PRFM after moving back from California in 2013. “Punk Rock Flea is the most accepting market I know of,” he says. “Ashley always makes space for us.”
Find him on Instagram @adampernelldeal and @part.flamingo.press, or visit adampernelldeal.com.
Seth Mahern (Xerox the Kidd)
Seth Mahern makes whimsical folk art, often in the form of cartoonish plywood cutouts.
This year marks his third time vending, and he calls it “a blast to see so many Knoxville weirdos in one place.”
PRFM is the only market he’s ever done, which makes it stand out even more.
Among fellow vendors, he admires the style of Jim Madison, also known as Print Destroyer.
Find Mahern’s work in Negatory group shows alongside other Knoxville artists, or on Instagram at @xeroxthekidd.
Richard Kehinde Olowoyo (Black Tiger Masterpieces)
Richard Kehinde Olowoyo shifts between mediums depending on the subject.
For self-portraits, he favors charcoal for its messy expressiveness, sometimes pairing it with ink for sharper detail.
He’s been vending at PRFM since 2021. One of his strongest memories is from 2022, when his booth was near the entrance and he, as he put it, “felt the magnetically powerful energy of drawing people in real time.”
As the first African American visual artist at PRFM, he calls the market “a kind of utopia”—a space filled with music, vintage vendors and people from every background.
His work can be commissioned through Instagram @blacktigermasterpieces.
That Scumbag Jim
That Scumbag Jim leans into the odd with lowbrow illustrations inspired by ADHD and alternative culture.
He’s been vending at PRFM for four or five years. What keeps him coming back is the atmosphere.
“Year after year I see people laughing, smiling and supporting each other—and not the deranged animals that people imagine,” he says.
For Jim, the market matters because it’s geared toward the unusual. “If you don’t connect with mainstream culture, you’re not alone,” he says.
Find his work on Etsy at ThatScumbagJim.etsy.com, on Instagram @ThatScumbagJim, and in local shops including Jaded Art Collective, Oddities Hair Parlour, Danger Company, Misfits on Main and the Bristol Bootique.
Sixteen years after its scrappy beginnings, PRFM has become more than just a market. It’s a highly anticipated party that reunites a Knoxville community not often gathered in one space.
Caruso has watched it evolve from begging friends to fill a few booths into a juried event with hundreds of vendor applications.
She’s even seeing a generational shift. Some of the artists who vended in the early years now have children running their own booths.
For B Bray, the market’s importance goes well beyond a single weekend.
“Last year was sincerely the best experience ever,” he says. “Just the most wildly welcoming community that showed me so much validation.”
From Bray’s painted skateboards to Deal’s intricate prints, from Fersner’s horror-inspired ink to Jim’s lowbrow illustrations and Richard’s expressive portraits, the Punk Rock Flea Market proves Knoxville’s weirdness isn’t fringe—it’s the main event.
And on Saturday, the Mill & Mine will open its doors once again, doing its part to keep Knoxville feeling safe, wild and free.
Knoxville’s Punk Rock Flea Market returns this Saturday, Sept. 27, at Mill & Mine, located at 227 W. Depot Ave. The event runs from noon to 9 p.m. and features more than 150 vendors, live bands, and all-ages access. Admission is $5 at the door. Kids 12 and under get in free. Booze will be available for those 21 and up.
Here’s the full music lineup:
12:15–12:45 p.m. – Tweejy
1:00–1:30 p.m. – Fül Coverage
1:45–2:15 p.m. – Counterfeit Twenties
2:30–3:00 p.m. – Bursters
3:15–3:45 p.m. – Rat Punch
4:00–4:30 p.m. – Fruit Looops
4:45–5:15 p.m. – J. Bu$h
5:30–6:00 p.m. – The Mall
6:15–6:45 p.m. – Pal
7:00–7:30 p.m. – Gumm
7:45–8:15 p.m. – Pat and the Pissers
8:30–9:00 p.m. – Shogun
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