Tony Winn is Cleveland Flea's (not-so) Secret Wise Guy Food Critic. He took a stroll through Saturday's Friendsgiving Flea and is sharing his top 5 reasons to stop by on Sunday! Jon and Juli from Jarendash Photography followed each and every bite.

Take it away, Tony!

Before that icy-bitch named “temptation” hijacks your brain and hypnotizes your butt to the couch for yet another Netflix and Chill session, I challenge you to change your weekend for the better; I challenge you to come to the Friendsgiving Flea. Ahh yes, the Friendsgiving Flea – Cleveland’s best take on Friendsgiving and this time your uncle isn’t passed out on the couch battling a mashed-potato induced coma. (Side note – we’re all rootin’ for his
quick recovery!)

Instead the Friendsgiving flea is the pop-up flea market of your dreams complete with fresh food, decidedly Cleveland drinks and the Jack-Sparrow-esq treasure hunt of finding Kodak-moment-ready–items for the upcoming holiday season.

Are you running to your car yet? Good. Read on to learn the top five reasons why you need to come to The Friendsgiving Flea.

No. 1: Buy Your Holiday Gifts
The clock is ticking – we have just over one month before Santa Claus stuffs hi butt down your chimney and robs you blind of milk and cookies. Seriously, I heard the Keebler Elves are still recovering from last year’s heist. All joking aside – The Holiday Season is upon us and whether we like it or not – we all feel the pressure of buying our loved ones gifts they will appreciate. Your solution: The Friendsgiving Flea. Wall to wall the isles are packed with friendly, local vendors that actually give a damn about you. Instead of buying your gifts from a corporate stooge, choose to shop local. The Friendsgiving Flea is very selective with their vendors and they only do business with quality people that offer quality products. From hand crafted jewelry, to custom T-shirts, and even the latest trends in fashion, the Friendsgiving Flea puts you in contact with unique vendors that will help you shop for the perfect gift.

Festive Blow Molds from South Hills Antique Gallery

No. 2: Try Some Good Food
It’s not a Cleveland Flea unless someone talks about the food. Now listen, I get it – I’m biased – I’m the food critic after all; talking about food is in my job description. Take my advice, do yourself a favor and have brunch at the Cleveland Flea. Not to undersell it but essentially, you’ll come hungry and leave happy. Now I could go on-and- on about how the Pierogi Lady has these Thanksgiving Pierogis that have literally made me revaluate how I interpret Thanksgiving. Or perhaps I could talk about Cleveland Field Kitchen’s mouth-watering holiday grilled cheese sandwich complete with apple bacon jam, shredded Brussels sprouts and cheddar cheese; you know, the perfect cold-weather meal. Or I could even mention the Croqueteria and their award winning croquetas but instead I’ll do you one better. Scroll down to find photo after photo of wallet-opening pics of food you need to try. I’ll see you in line, I’ll be the guy eating tums.

Grilled Cheese from Cleveland Field Kitchen

Potica (prounounced PO-TEETS-UH) is a Slovenian poppy seed bread made by Anne.

No. 3: Enjoy Better Drinks
Some people get into the holiday spirit through caroling, good deeds and white elephant gift exchanges. Other people, myself included, get into the holiday spirit one holiday mule at a time. The spirit of The Friendsgiving Flea is powered by the mad scientists behind The Happy Camper Bar Car. If you have read any of my articles you would know that this Cleveland Flea institute only delivers smile causing cocktails and head nodding beers. On the menu this year is The Rosemary Collins: a boozy carbonated lemonade with rosemary. The Penicillin: a whiskey, lemon honey, ginger and smoke blend and my personal favorite The Holiday Mule: the classic mule cocktail with their own holiday twist. Do your taste buds a favor and drop by the Happy Camper Bar Car, you won’t regret it.

No. 4: Take Your Next Instagram Ready Photo
Let’s face it: half of Instagram and three-fourths of Facebook consist of photos of people posing inside the iconic Cleveland Flea. (At least according to my biased, unscientific estimates.) The Friendsgiving Flea is no different – it’s complete with the aesthetics that will make even the biggest interior design snob shed a tear of appreciation. Every nook and cranny of the Friendsgiving Flea offers a photo friendly opportunity. Seriously – you need to check this out. The only challenge is to come up with a witty caption to push you over the eleven-like barrier. You got this kid – I believe in you.

No. 5: Be A Part of the Cleveland Culture
It’s time to do more, it’s time to shake things up, it’s time to get out and live a little. The Cleveland Flea is perhaps the coolest thing to happen to Cleveland since, well, the return of the King. Now I don’t want to toot our own horn too many times for fear of being that guy, but let’s just say I’ve seen a couple of National TV shows doing some filming here. Yeah, guess what, The Cleveland Flea is starting to make some national noise! Your weekend needs a facelift and The Friendsgiving Flea gives you the fix you’ve been dreaming about. Come join the culture, you’ll see things you didn’t know existed and begin to understand how cool of a city Cleveland really is.

Missed Friendsgiving Flea? That's not a problem! We've got 2 more markets coming up on December 8-10 (December Flea) and December 15-17 (Holiday Maker Market). And if you need reminders, like us, just join our mailing list! (hint: the signup is on our home page).

Tony Winn's Top Five Reasons to Come to the Friendsgiving Flea

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