Night of the Arts | The National Opera sold old performance costumes at a ridiculous price, the organizers were surprised by a queue of almost a hundred meters

Finland The National Opera organized a flea market on Thursday, the popularity of which surprised even the organizers.

There weren’t quite the usual flea market products for sale, but at the flea market you could buy finds from the opera’s costumes. According to the estimates of the orderlies, there were up to 2,500 visitors in total, says the manager of the costume warehouse Annastiina Kekäläinen.

The flea market was part of the traditional program of the Helsinki Arts Night cultural event, and it was organized on the outer wall of the Opera House on the Töölönlahti side.

The flea market has not been able to be organized in the last two years, as well as the Night of the Arts due to the corona pandemic.

“Kirppis has been popular in previous years as well, but now it seems that people had a pent-up desire to buy,” says Kekäläinen.

The flea market opened at five o’clock, but based on HS’s observations, there were already people in line before four o’clock. At seven o’clock in the evening, there was still almost a hundred meters in line, even though the flea market was supposed to close at eight.

Almost according to Kekäläinen, all the clothes and accessories on sale came from previous opera or ballet performances. There were clothes from historical suits and evening dresses to regular trousers and sweaters.

Prices ranged from 50 cents to a maximum of 80 euros. One of the most expensive costumes sold was an opera singer Jaakko Ryhänen Don Carlos -the costume used in the opera.

According to Kekäläinen, jewelry was especially popular this year, which sold a lot. People lined up at the jewelry point even after the official closing time, and those who made it to the area were given extra time to shop.

However, there was enough until the end.

“In total, we had about 30 suitcases, of which four were left behind. So everyone who wanted to was able to buy something,” says Kekäläinen.