Gothmas - Alternative Market

Gothmas returns to The Quad on Friday 4 December, the special alternative Christmas market run by Dracula's Bazaar. It's a day for the city's gothic and alternative community to get together and shop for the season, with the market staffed and run by the very people who make up that scene here in Derby.

Behind it is Kellie Everton, who runs Dracula's Bazaar and co-directs The Derby Dracula CIC. She's also a PhD researcher at the University of Derby, where her project, Derby Dracula: Understanding Literary Heritage through Artistic Research, looks at the cultural and civic significance of Dracula in the city through contemporary feminist art practice. That's not the only Dracula connection she's tied to: she's a founding member of Dracula Returns to Derby, an AHRC research project that raises awareness of the fact that Dracula was first performed on stage in Derby. So when you see the name Dracula's Bazaar, it's not just a nod to the Count — it's rooted in some very real local history.

The market itself is a community effort. It's staffed and run by the city's gothic and alternative crowd, the same group that started the Derby Gothica newsletter to keep track of what's happening across the scene. If you've been following that, you'll know it's more than just a place to pick up a few things; it's a gathering of the people who keep this side of the city's culture going. Gothmas is the alternative Christmas edition of Dracula's Bazaar, so it's a good spot for gifts that don't fit the usual high street mould.

It all happens at The Quad on Friday 4 December, with the market run by the community and the whole thing coming from the Dracula's Bazaar project. If you're after an alternative way to do your Christmas shopping, that's the one.