On the Antiques Trail

last month in michigan for 2013

It's early fall after a fitful summer of starts and stops... the usual great shows at Petoskey and Midland, and a few upsets, such as the Septenber Utica show, where it rained on Saturday, and the crowd that came out Sunday was too busy "walkin' the dog" to care what was in anyone's booth. There were some dealers who didn't even make booth rent. These things happen sometimes. The current political unrest regarding America's new health care plan seems to have many folks afraid to spend. For next spring, our plan is to buy another box truck (instead of using the van and trailer) and do fewer, but better shows, some big out-of-state ones too. this will allow us to spend more time buying, restoring, and repurposing, and therefore presenting fresh new booths every time we sell.
Our itinerary is fully planned for this winter in Florida and will be posted on our website by the end of the week. Basically it goes like this:
Nov. 15-17 Renningers Mount Dora Extravaganza
Nov. 23 Arcadia on W.Oak
Dec 1 Ginny and Jane's, Anna Maria Island
Dec 7 Renningers special Christmas event
Dec 8 Punta Gorda, in the Park
December 15 Cape Coral Farmers & Flea
Dec 28 Arcadia, on W. Oak
Jan 4 cape Coral Farmers and flea
Jan 5 Ginny & Jane's, Anna Maria Island
Jan 12 Punta Gorda, in the park
Jan 17-19 Renningers Mount Dora Extrav
Jan 25 -Arcadia, on W. Oak
Feb 1 Cape Coral farmers & flea
Feb 2 Ginny & Jane's, Anna Maria Island
Feb 9 Punta Gorda in the Park
Feb 14-16 Renningers Mount Dora Extrav
Feb 22 Arcadia, on W. Oak
Mar 1 Cape Coral Farmers and Flea
Mar 2 Ginny & Jane's, Anna Maria Island
Mar 9 Punta Gorda, in the Park
Mar 15-17 Renningers Mount Dora monthly fair
Mar  22 Arcadia, on W. Oak
Apr 6 Ginny & Jane's, Anna Maria Island

We are going to try to stay long enough to do the Fancy Flea in April, but so far we don't know the date, absolutely, so can't plan ahead.  March 29 we may go over to West Palm beach for their downtown Saturday market in the Historic District, and April 13 if we are still in the south we may be at Punta Gorda once more. There is also a possibility we may pick up Scott's in Atlanta  Georgia  on Apr 11-13 and be back in Michigan by mid-April.
This Saturday, Oct 5 in Michigan we are doing a real old time vintage harvest festival at a centennial farm at 4410 Howe Road in Dewitt, Mi. Our set-up is outdoors, so if its a real rainy day, don't look for us to show up. On Sunday, if we don't stay there for the second day, then we will take a trip over to Royal Oak, just north of Detroit, to do some buying and selling.

here is a shot of one of the buildings at the centennial farm in Dewitt, taken last year. looks like you couldn't ask for a prettier setting so it should be fun to set-up and display our wares..  I'll let you know how it all turned out.

Back in Michigan it's been a cold, wet spring

Yes friends, We've been back in Michigan since the middle of April and its just been one of those strings of bad luck that occasionally happen to everyone, but fall particularly hard when you are in a traveling biz, exposed to weather and the elements, and generally at the mercy of the wide world and all its quirks.
First Michigan show was Ann Arbor back in April, and as we were driving there and the radio was announcing forecasts of high winds, heavy rain, etc. we thought we might call ahead and get switched to an indoor booth. No one answered the phone at the Fairgrounds, and when we got there, it was to discover that the big circus-style tent that the promoter puts up each show had collapsed in high wind, and Everyone had been re-routed indoors except us and one other gentleman (he had his own small tent and didn't want to move indoors.)
We immediately requested that we be moved in and were told there were no more spaces. After establishing that we could not erect a tent in the present wind (60 MPH gusts) and getting permission to access the grounds at 5:am, we went to our hotel. In the dark and rain of the early morn, with winds that ad lessened but wwere still in excess of 25 MPH we somehow set up a ragtag booth. No lightweight glass or statues, no windows, no paintings or prints, no fabrics, just all the pieces of furniture, iron, and statuary leaning into each other for support, and no possible rhyme or reason to the display. Well any of you who know me know how difficult "no display, no decor" was for me. At 7am the buildings were opened to the vendors, and it was then that I discovered more than a dozen empty spaces indoors. needless to say i was not a happy camper, and the show simply apologized and said it was an oversight, their fault. We spent the day outside in 27 degree weather, while the whole show buzzed nearby, ALL INDOORS. At 4pm one of the promoters came and asked us if we wanted to move indoors for the next day. (Didn't offer to help ujs move in, mind you, just told us we could.) Having already lost our share of the beaucoup bucks being spent indoors that day, and knowing the 2nd day of a show is less well-traveled and has shorter hours, and figuring we would have had to spend an additional 3 hours shlepping everything indoors and setting up again, we declined.
On Sunday, we started to have a few customers in the afternoon, as the day was warmer and the wind had died down. Just as we got some selling momentum going (about 3pm) the inside dealers started jockeying for spaces to put their trucks-right in front of the buildings and effectively blocking us off visually. At that point I had had more than enough. I sought out the promoter and asked her if the show ended at 3 or 4? she said 4, so I said "why are the trucks coming in an hour early?" She came outside to survey the situation and by then at least 40 trucks had completely blocked us off and signalled to any public at the fronts of those buildings that the show must be over.
It was at that point that I demanded my money back for a show that had been completely mis-managed, from start to finish. They did accomodate me, though they cashed my check first, in error, and had to send me a new one later in the week. In fact the whole thing was a comedy of error, but what wasn't funny, and what can never be replaced is the money I lost by not making sales all day Saturday, while $ hundreds of thousands $ were changing hands indoors.
Next time, when I DO go back, and I believe that will be in July, the summer and Fall markets are all now under a different promoter, and so a different name. It will be the Saline Antiques and Vintage Market from now on, except in April, May, and October when theywill continue to use the Ann Arbor Antiques Market name..
Continued cold, rain, and a major van problem took their toll on the rest of the spring shows, especially the ones farthest north, where the people did not come out at all. Finally at the end of May, beginning of June, the weather warmed somewhat, and the big Midland Antiques Festival was its usual huge and unruly self, with many old friends and clients stopping by and making purchases. That weekend was a miracle for sure, as the forecast was for 3 days of ongoing rain, and we never got a drop.
In two weeks we will be headed to Petoskey, that most beautiful show at the top of the lower peninsula where we spend our days displaying and describing our wares for ardent and intelligent visitors from all over the country. Can't wait, and hope to see you there.

Raw Material

It's mid-week and the next to last day of January here in sunny Fort Myers Florida, a sure sign that my lovely winter here is now half over! The push is on to turn some of our "raw material" into actual ready-to-sell inventory. We'll be exhibiting nearby in Cape Coral this Saturday, at a really crowded  antiques street fair held in conjunction with a popular farmers market. So no travel this week at all, and home the same day. Nice.
Nevertheless, new items must always be added to the old, and it's uncanny how you, the public, always seem to know which are the new items, and buy those first. I bought a few nice things at the old Drive-In Flea market this morning, including a beautiful vintage watercolor of pine trees on the banks of a lake or river, and a charming round wicker occasional table just perfect for a seaside or lakeside cottage.
I might wind up painting the table white or green, but today the goal is to finish Rick's newest Bed-bench, (one with really high posts and cool finials, made from a damaged 1920s full-size four-poster bed,) then to figure out which pieces from the piles of iron furniture and decorative panels we've been collecting up should get completed for this week's show. Below are the photos of the "raw material" we are choosing from. Later in the week I'll add the finished product pictures. The bed-bench is already a work-in-progress as he began it yesterday.

Still a little more time to hit a few garage and estate sales tomorrow and Friday mornings, before our Saturday show, and scout around on the way home in case any "Gifts from God" have been dumped curbside on our morning route. Speaking of Curbside, have any of you noticed in your cities that Craigslist now posts "curb alerts" in the free category? Personally I've never  yet read of anything that sounded really tempting, but I still think this is a neat trend along the lines of "one man's trash is another man's treasure." I also like the Barter category on Craigslist.
It's all just part of keeping your eyes, ears, and minds open to all possibilities when it comes to merchandise, raw material, or other opportunities for buying, selling, and matching the right piece with the right person.. I hate to use yet another cliche here, but isn't there one about gift horses? Happy hunting and may we meet along the antiques trail!

hunting down great Florida finds,last week of January.

Rick and I have completed our second Mount Dora Antiques Extravaganza, as well as three each of the monthly Arcadia Antiques markets and West Palm Beach Antiques markets, where we set up under our business name, Gardentiques. Not much left of what we brought down from Michigan in November, and the push is on to continue re-stocking. We have a show every single weekend through mid-March, and the goal is always to return with a completely new and exciting load for the early spring Michigan shows, while continuing to thrill Florida shoppers until then, with great booths each week in a new location.
At both the Mount Dora and Arcadia shows I was able to buy a few items, most of it iron that will be re-purposed or re-configured into great garden merchandise. There was also an extraordinary gothic looking birdgage which was purchased in Mount Dora and found a new home the following week in Arcadia. I wouldn't have minded keeping that one for my own house.