A Picker’s Paradise – Antique Show Week at Brimfield, MA

(Fair Warning : Not for those who can’t stand clutter or visual chaos)

Antiques week at Brimfield

For the truly hardy, the Brimfield Antiques Show is the largest outdoor antiques show in the world, with over 6,000 dealers and 130,000+ visitors during the course of the week.  While it is convenient to refer to it as “The Show”, it is actually comprised of 23 fields, owned by “Promoters”, who lease spaces to dealers from all over the world.  These “fields” are located along both sides of a mile-long stretch of 2 lane road, just outside of Brimfield, MA (normal town population is 2000).

I’ve been to “the show” 3 times before, but it’s been several years since I’ve made the trek.  This year I met up with my Grad School buds, all of us flying into Boston from various US locations and then driving down to the Brimfield area for a quick 3 day antiquing trip.

Day 1 – Vintage Fashion and Textile Show

One of the booths at the Vintage Fashion and Textile Show

The Brimfield Antiques week starts off with a 1 Day indoor Vintage Textile Show in nearby Sturbridge.  Approximately 250 Vendors in a giant building sell everything imaginable related to vintage fashion and textiles, even vintage underwear:

While there were some truly beautiful antique textile pieces, much of the fare at the Textile show was way out of my price range and not what I was looking for.  I mostly look for interesting vintage bargain bits of materials I can use in my artwork.  I was also disappointed that a few of my favorite vendors from years past weren’t there (the “Ribbon lady”, the Vintage tablecloth booth, and Dusty’s Linens – although I did find Dusty’s at the outdoor show in Brimfield the next day).

 Day 2 – Brimfield Show

The show opens at daybreak on Tuesday, so in order to get there and get parked in the closest-in parking we were up before 5am.  When you make a purchase in one of the “fields”, you have to schlep it back to your parked car so it’s a good idea to get to the show early to get the best parking.  It’s about the only time you’ll ever find me remotely happy to be getting up while it’s still dark out.

Some of the booths at the Brimfield Show

Many of the vendors don’t allow pictures in their booths, so it’s hard to capture the amazing array of items for sale or the full flavor of the event – it really is something you have to see to believe.  The many treasures, colors, shapes and textures are great inspiration for my creative art process and get me energized.  Despite the rain, we walked through most of the fields on Tuesday.

Besides the fabric/art materials I always have on my list to look for, this year I also was looking for some metal pots/cauldrons that I could use for my eco-dyeing experiments.  I found 2 copper pots and a cast iron kettle, all of which are in transit on their way home, as I shipped them rather than schelp them home in my suitcase.

Here’s what I scored this year (minus the pots and a few other items that were shipped and still en route):

vintage fabrics and silk floss from the Brimfield and Sturbridge Antique Shows

Given the rainy cold weather, we decided 2 full days of pickin’ was enough for us this year.  We packed up our treasures, shipped the heavy stuff and headed to Boston to fly home on Wed.

It was really good to get to do “the show” again, even though the weather wasn’t great.  I love the energy of the dealers and pickers and the mystery of never knowing what you’re going to find around the next corner or buried in a pile in one of the booths.  And the people-watching can’t be beat!

Where do you find your creative inspiration?  Any special events that you attend that stir your creativity?