The weeks around Labor Day are some of the best times of the year to be a Minnesotan. The weather starts to cool, winter is still a ways off, and my three favorite events are forthcoming: the Oronoco Gold Rush Antique Show, the Minnesota State Fair, and Junk Bonanza.
The Oronoco Gold Rush is a multi-vendor Antique Show held during the third weekend in August and is considered one of the country's premiere annual antique shows. Established in 1972, for three days in August the small town of Oronoco MN fills with vendors and shoppers from all over the country. With more than 400 vendors, 1,200 spaces and covering several city blocks, the Gold Rush is one of the largest shows in the Midwest.
This year I attended the Oronoco show with new eyes. Transitioning from buyer to seller is tough when you are surrounded by beautiful, tempting things with which to feather your nest. Unfortunately, my nest is already well feathered, my storage room well stocked with ebay and Etsy items to sell, and my wallet is pretty much empty. Undaunted, I ventured out with my Darling Partner B. (aka DPB), my trusty camera, and the intent of bringing home photos -- rather than purchases -- for my first blog post.
The Oronoco show runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and due to a long overdue visit from an old friend, we couldn't get down to the show until the last day. Rising early (for us) we packed a cooler, fed and watered the dogs, and jumped in the car for the 80 minute drive to Oronoco. Beautiful morning, and a straight shot down Highway 52 past the evil looking smoke stacks of the Koch refinery and into the green growing fields of Minnesota farmland; corn and cows; crossing one river after another: the Mississippi, Cannon, Zumbro; little traffic and a deep feeling of peace.
We park in our usual spot, one of the first you come to along the northern edge of downtown. We pay our $5 parking fee with a $20 bill and receive $25 in change. Hmm, not a bad way to start the day, but when we exit the lot we give the homeowner back the extra $10. Having good karma at an antique show can't hurt, and we're grateful that the homeowner hasn't raised the price of parking in 10 years.
We head off with our newly acquired foldable shopping cart -- a garage sale find bought for only $4.00 earlier this summer, with Oronoco in mind. Initially intended to fill with some must-have purchases, I see that the cart is already half full from the cooler and DPB's purse, which along with the usual purse stuff also holds an extra pair of shoes, an umbrella, and her ipad in case she gets bored while I am searching for fun things I wish I could afford to buy. That crazy girl!
Here's DPB leaving the parking area -- ready for adventure!
The problem with parking where we do is that we tend to see the outskirts first, and are sometimes tired before we get to the meat of the market. This time is no different, and the first block or so is mostly local homeowners selling stuff they have bought throughout the year and garaged until Gold Rush time. Not a bad plan -- kinda wish I lived in Oronoco myself, frankly -- but not the high quality antiques and furniture one expects to find at a premiere show.
Right off, DPB finds a new sun to hang on our garage, smaller than some others that we have but just as sweet. Only a few booths in and already we have made our first purchase -- which turns out to be one of only two purchases we make all day. I'm trying to take photos as we walk, but this is a new thing for me and DPB is a speedwalker, even when pushing a cart full of frozen water, diet coke, fresh fruit and the ubiquitous ipad. I try to take a photo of an lovely old crate from a dairy farm in Lancaster PA, where DPB's father lives, but the camera misbehaves (or I do), and instead I end up with a stunning shot of the pavement.
Camera finally under control, I spot an old wooden grain scoop next to a Ladies Blacking Shoe Polish kit. As if milking the cows, churning the butter, kneading the dough, baking the bread, making the meals, washboarding the clothes, beating the rug, and emptying the bedpans isn't enough, now I have to shine your shoes, too? Good grief.
We both fall in love with this old telephone -- it is nice and heavy, the silver accent is beautiful and except for the old plug that needs to be replaced it seems in excellent condition. But at a price of $75.00 we keep walking, and I console myself by taking a photograph instead, a much less expensive memory.
Next we pass a large field where one of the vendors is selling dozens of old tin ceiling tiles, including some fabulous tin framed mirrors. I love his display -- perfect for a lifesize game of chess or checkers!
I thought this big round mirror was super cool -- very chippy which I love -- and I hoped it would make for a fantastic photo. Didn't turn out as nice as I thought it might -- I was hoping to capture the feeling of the fair in the mirror's reflection, but the subject matter just wasn't there. Can't complain though -- no, really, I can't --- that's DPB coming up the hill to see what it is I find so interesting!
I did fall in love with a small silver purse from this same seller -- It was very small -- maybe 5" x 3", and opened like an old cigarette case with one side empty while the other had a slot to hold nickels, another slot for dimes, and a tiny capped box for pills. It was very unusual and i would have used it for business cards. Asking $25.00, the owner only came down to $20.00, and I passed on it. Not a big regret but an one of those missed opportunities I feel like I'll be thinking about for awhile. DefiniteIy regret not taking a photo at least.
I do end up buying a couple of old film books from the same seller -- part of a 1960's series of books she wanted $45 for the set or $5 per book. I find three books I think the Number One Son will like -- a book about director Cecil B Demille, one on Charlie Chaplin, and a third book about Foreign Films. Number One Son is a film buff extraordinaire, so these will go into the closet until Christmas.
Being avid animal lovers, we stop to say hello to almost every dog we meet. Here's a pic of DPB greeting a sweet natured pit bull puppy.
I have a weird fascination with this fan -- it had netting over it that I just can't figure out. Is it to keep fingers out or dust in? A place for spiders to build their webs? I don't know, but leave a comment and let me know if you do.
I really like this old Robin Hood Sports 3-speed -- it's all decked out with a bicycle light with a speedometer in it, a rear rack, some sort of decorative striped plastic coating over the gear wires, and the best part -- a set of long rainbow colored streamers dangling from the handlebars.
I'm crazy for this pair of Mardi Gras masks, and think they would make great display items in a man cave or a folk art collection. But at $145 each they are a bit out of my reselling comfort zone.
Coming from an airline family and an airline background myself, I love this old child's push-car airplane, and could easily imagine it filled with flowers and resting on a dirt runway in my backyard. (Not that DPB would allow such a thing in her "Native Minnesota Wildlife" garden.) Pretty cool, right?
We also find a neat old hotel operator's phone, complete with headset. The headset is essentially the same as one you might find nowadays -- metal, fits completely over the head, etc., but the speaker and earpiece is a one-piece handset that attaches to the headset -- a very clunky and clumsy design, and DPB can't make it work without actually holding onto the handset, which would seem to defect the purpose of a "hands free" telephone. No dial, either, just a hand crank and a single-tone button to answer the phone with. By the time we walk away the dealer is down to $75 -- pretty reasonable given it's age and uniqueness, but you can't make outgoing calls with it and people tend to like function and form when it comes to old phones.
It sprinkles off and on for the rest of the day, so I put the camera away, pulling it out again for one final photo. Before we leave we each have one of the fabulous homemade ice-cream sandwiches the Oronoco Gold Rush is famous for, and a delicious bacon cheeseburger covered in grilled peppers and onions -- so tasty I look forward to it all year long!
We see a lot of other great items, especially some lovely pieces of mission furniture, and we meet an incredibly sweet Great Pyrenees puppy and a not-so-sweet pet raccoon. I beg DPB to let me have the puppy (our own, old, and most beloved Great Pyrenees passed away last year), but DPB rationally explains that we already have 2 large dogs and 3 cats in our small city bungalow, and then gives me the choice of living with the puppy or living with her. I want to think about it for awhile but she is not amused so I kiss the sleeping puppy goodbye and give my own dogs big kisses hello when we get home. I also give DPB a kiss when we get home, just to be on the safe side.
Here's the item I liked the best and wanted the most from this year's Gold Rush. I didn't even bother to look at the price, but i'm guessing it was in the mid $500.00's. I like all things globe-like, and this was huge and just so darn amazing. I wanted it for the back of the garage, to sit amongst all the suns we have hanging back there.
I hope that you have enjoyed my first blog entry. Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think. Too long-winded? Yeah, sometimes I can ramble-write on and on. Boring? Oh, I hope not! Have a subject you want me to write about? Let me know, and I'll see what I can come up with.
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Thanks so much for reading me!
