“What draws many to the Record Fairs thrown by Som Records, D.C. Soul Recordings, and The Vinyl District is less the vinyl than the atmosphere.”

That statement from former DCist weekend editor Kriston Capps came after a particularly electric edition of D.C. Record Fair, but it also encapsulates what the four co-founders of the semi-annual event have always striven for. When asked, every single one of them said that usually hearing “record fair” brings up images of men in their 50s and 60s digging through crates in a hotel ballroom under sterile conditions. “We didn’t want to go for that demo really,” Jon Meyers, who also founded website The Vinyl District, tells DCist.

Admittedly, there hadn’t even been much in the way of “traditional” record fairs in the D.C. area for decades. Neal Becton (also of Som Records) recalls record fairs in places like Tysons Corner, but those hadn’t been active since the 1980s and 1990s. Regularly looking at offerings from multiple record dealers in the same location either meant hauling up to Arbutus, Md. for their monthly record show or taking an annual trip to New Jersey for the behemoth event offered by WFMU.

Perhaps that’s why not everyone on this team were ever regular record fair attendees themselves. It’s clear that all four have a deep appreciation for vinyl: Becton runs a record shop and Meyers wears his heart on the name of his website. Additionally, Kevin Coombe not only DJs around the area but has spent over a decade documenting the history of D.C.’s soul music much of which can be found at DC Soul Recordings. The fourth co-founder, Chris Knott, also DJs around D.C. and had performed in bands growing up outside Minneapolis.

Yet, none of the four can speak to any defining experiences at record fairs. Rather, Knott credits the start of his vinyl mania by finding a stall at Eastern Market.

“There was a guy named Floyd who was a cab driver and he had lived here his whole life and he had been buying records since his teens.” Indeed, Knott and Becton actually met while looking for records at a flea market at RFK Stadium. They all bonded over records, but not the experience of going to record fairs.

Understandably, they weren’t the first people to even broach the idea of bringing such an experience back to the D.C. area. Some students at the University of Maryland held two record fairs in the late ’00s and had asked Becton, Knott, and Coombe to sell at the event. “It was a really good show,” remembers Becton. However, due to the vagaries of organizing events on college campuses, it was also difficult to run. After a planned University of Maryland record fair was cancelled for the second time, they thought, “Why don’t we just do one?” The D.C. Record Fair was born.

The first D.C. Record Fair made two distinct choices to distinguish their ambience from the outset: Serve alcohol and have a DJ. Coombe DJ’d the first show at Civilian Art Project in February 2009 along with Ian Svenonius.

“It was this really cool vibe,” said Meyers. “We thought, ‘Maybe we’re onto something.'” They also learned something else from that first show: no more shows that required their vendors to load in up several flights of stairs. “[That] was murder on the dealers,” said Becton.

Additionally, the success of that first show allowed them to hit larger venues. They quickly graduated from shows at The Warehouse and Comet Ping Pong to larger spaces like The Fillmore and Artisphere. The interest wasn’t solely on the part of the shoppers either: They started to have more interest from regional vendors than they could accommodate.

Even though they’ve been able to double the amount of vendors since that first show (Sunday’s event at Penn Social will have around 45 tables), they had to start holding a lottery for vendors within the first few shows. Coombe tells us that he has to put names into four different hats in order to make the process more impartial. “We pick from local record stores first,” he says. “If record stores want in, they typically will get in.”

This is followed by picking names from a hat of vendors that have never sold at the fair and have never previously asked to sell. The third hat contains the names of people that asked to sell at the previous fair and had not gotten the chance to do so. The fourth hat has the names of vendors that have had table space at the record fair previously. There will be records at this fair that have made the trek from as far away as Georgia.

Although the event only continues to grow in scope, the most well-attended Record Fair to date remains the post-Snowmageddon affair at the Black Cat. That one had its own set of snarls: Knott recalls needing to shovel snow around the venue so that the vendors would have a place to park. Also, nobody quite expected that high turnout, although Coombe says it’s no mistake that they continue to hold at least one fair during the winter, stating knowingly that people want to get out of the house.

However, that particular fair simply magnified the perks of the event due to everyone’s cabin fever. Crates of old and new music sat in all corners of the room. Some of D.C.’s most storied musicians were on hand to play their own favorite records. Everyone showed up whether they had a pesky obsession with vinyl or not. The fact that it was Valentine’s Day also further accentuated the joyful feeling in the room and made the event feel far more special than just any old day where one might find a great new record or five. It was a uniquely community-oriented event wherein everyone present felt like they belonged.

And on Sunday, this new tradition of familial bonds and music continues.

The D.C. Record Fair takes place this Sunday at Penn Social (801 E Street NW) from11 a.m. to 5 p.m. More info available here.