BROADWAY FLEA MARKET & GRAND AUCTION
Fundraising History 1987-2011
Although today it’s the oldest and, for many, most-beloved Broadway Cares event, the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction made an inauspicious debut. In 1987, the event began as two tables presented by the company of A Chorus Line outside their stage door in Shubert Alley as part of the first Equity Fights AIDS week, raising $7,000 – a total staff and volunteers found astonishing.
Over the next four years, under the leadership of Ethel Bayer, Maria Di Dia, Stephen Falat, Arne Gundersen and Larry Hansen, the Flea Market grew with tables from more shows, theatre-related offices, unions and guilds. Everyone recognized a good cause and a great chance to clean house.
In 1988, an auction of eight lots was created, but without an experienced auctioneer to spur the bidding, it sputtered to a finish. Then, in 1989, Sotheby’s Lorna Kelly came on board as our official auctioneer and, with her expertise, a truly “grand” auction was born. Today, the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction gets thousands from the theatre community and still more fans out of bed on a Sunday morning—filling not just Shubert Alley but a cordoned-off stretch of 44th Street, too.
As they say, “from little acorns…” In more than 20 years, this event has raised more than $9 million, and we’re still signing posters, gathering swag, cleaning out closets and auctioning one-of-a-kind theatrical experiences for a good cause.
|
|
|
Year
|
Grand Auction
|
Broadway Flea Market
|
|
1987
|
n/a
|
$12,000
|
|
1988
|
n/a
|
$32,000
|
|
1989
|
$ 5,000
|
$52,000
|
|
1990
|
$12,000
|
$62,000
|
|
1991
|
$33,000
|
$105,000
|
|
1992
|
$48,000
|
$182,000
|
|
1993
|
$89,000
|
$199,000
|
|
1994
|
$106,000
|
$277,000
|
|
1995
|
$195,000
|
$310,775
|
|
1996
|
$294,250*
|
$468,000
|
|
1997
|
$209,250
|
$432,000
|
|
1998
|
$229,100
|
$507,000
|
|
1999
|
$215,100
|
$551,000
|
|
|
$206,000
|
$574,000**
|
|
|
$94,200
|
$358,000
|
|
|
$134,325
|
$450,235
|
|
|
$260,000
|
$512,000
|
|
|
$172,400
|
$419,464
|
|
|
$228,700
|
$544,037
|
|
|
$175,000
|
$505,832
|
|
|
$203,700
|
$559,810
|
|
|
$173,000
|
$496,380
|
|
|
$175,000
|
$403,929
|
|
|
$182,575
|
$476,917
|
|
|
$201,500
|
$547,658
|
|
|
$298,300
|
$681,892
|
|
GRAND AUCTION Total To Date: $3,748,800
25 BROADWAY FLEA MARKETS Total To Date: $9,870,369
|
|
|
|
|