A BRIEF HISTORY OF SMASHFEST

The origins of The Scrap Exchange’s “SmashFest” humbly began in 2011. After being forced to leave the Foster Street location after a roof collapse, the new space was in disarray. Palettes, craft supplies, and THINGS were everywhere! As the staff sorted through the palettes filled with donations, they started finding a lot of breakables...like, a lot, alot. 

The idea to start smashing these breakables began as a joke, but due to the sheer amount of items floating around and the general rage simmering from the failed systems that forced the move, SmashFest arrived.

Affectionately held on Scrap’s anti-capitalist, “Black Metal Friday”, the early eras of SmashFest featured local metal bands as a live soundtrack to people throwing breakables around.

SmashFest had humble beginnings. A handful of trash pandas, drinking in the parking lot, throwing stuff against a wall, releasing the built up tensions of the previous year.

After a very positive reaction to the first year (SmashFest now brings out over 600 people!), the methodology and engineering that went into the smashing became more and more elaborate. Things went from, “throwing stuff against a wall” to ever-evolving creative ways to smash materials, and a deep exploration of what makes the best smash (spoiler-it's the paint filled xmas balls).

There was a giant fist that crashed into 2016's “The Glass Ceiling”, a flaming toilet that fell from the sky and bowling balls rolled through window pains. With this annual tradition, TSE has been able to develop a fundraiser that doubles as an annual communal art-therapy practice.