OH, THE TREASURES YOU’LL FIND

Road Tripping to the Brimfield Antique Flea Market

Apainted blue eye as big as a dinner plate and set in a black oval frame watched visitors from all over stream down the road to the fields and tents of the Brimfield Antique Flea Market in nearby Brimfield, Mass.

They... ...came looking for the one-of-a-kind and the dozens of one kind. ...wanted raw potential and freshly updated. ...wanted conversation starters and conversation stoppers. ...wanted what they didn’t know they wanted until they saw it. And they knew that to find it, they had to look, poke, peer and prod into every corner of every display of every vendor at this sprawling, threetimes-a-year market of old things—old things made into new things, and new things made to look like old things. 4 A reclining plaster Buddha draped with antique glass beads. A concrete swan planter. A chorus line of red plastic Christmas choir lawn ornaments.

For 37 years, the curious seeking the curious have descended on tiny Brimfield. For the 49 weeks of the year the flea market is not in session, Brimfield is a typically picturesque New England town, replete with white clapboard churches and primly shuttered pre-Colonial houses: exactly what you’d expect from a town established in 1731.

But during the three weeks of the fair—held in May, July and September—the town becomes a campground of the odd, the obsolete and the irresistibly opportune. 4 Pointed metal thimbles labeled “European potato diggers.” A quilt of faded blue and green patchwork. A quiver of yardsticks sprouting from a brown pottery crock.

Judith Lesser is a regular vendor at the fair. Every year, she drives up from Maryland with a car full of treasures gleaned from local estate and garage sales. In July 2021, in the cool shade of an open-sided barn, she arranged a still life of blue and white vintage textiles over a wood rack. Two woven runners, a blue and white patchwork quilt, and a tablecloth hopscotched with loopy embroidered flowers. How does she know what will sell? “I guess,” she says. 4 A trio of glossy metal victrola horns blooming like giant morning glories. A school of new cast iron hooks in the shape of 19th century mermaids. A cluster of upended golf clubs peering out of a bag like a mob of meerkats.

The fair is a dig and a jumble and a crazy aunt’s closet-cleaning all in one — exactly as planned.

Continued on page 34

About 37 years ago, John Doldoorian’s mother, Marie, had a notion to turn the run-ofthe-mill antique mall inside-out and invite the public to come. By allowing only vintage and antique furniture, china, jewelry, home furnishings, sporting goods and miscellanea—“no tube socks here,” says Doldoorian—she crafted the show’s appeal. John Doldoorian ran the show with his mother, now 85, until he retired from teaching and took over so that she could retire from show management. 4 A five- foot- tall concrete cat. A cascade of geometric-printed silk neckties. A bamboo birdcage.

Mary Chrostowski is another vendor at the fair. Today’s young homeowners don’t want their grandparents’ brown wood furniture, so Chrostowski paints furniture colors designed to blend with almost any type of décor: barn red, dusty blue, sunflower yellow and always, barely off white.

Chrostowski and her husband, Roger, of Chelmsford, Mass., pick up the unpopular brown furniture for a song at estate, moving and garage

sales, and give it a new life. “A solid walnut piece with a marble top and acorn handles — nobody on God’s green earth would have bought it the way it was,” says Chrostowski. “I bought outdoor paint, because it seals the wood. I sanded it and painted it gray, and with the white marble top, it was phenomenal.”

And a lot more expensive. She paid $100 for the dresser, paint and sandpaper but expected it to sell for $400.

Is it worth it? Yes, to keep busy, says Chrostowski, 71, and to give sturdy old pieces a new life with owners who otherwise couldn’t afford the quality and craftsmanship of old furniture. “People love vintage chairs with beautiful carving but they don’t want them with dirty, stinky fabric. I reupholster them with fabric prints with Marilyn Monroe on the back of the chair, so it shows in the room, and I put black and white stripes on the seat and cushions. People love it.”

“It’s how you can transform what once was, into something that people are looking for today,” Chrostowski says. “The whole antiques world is nothing but a transformation.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

The Brimfield Antique Flea Market is a “show of shows” that lines Rt. 20 in Brimfield, Mass. for roughly a mile. Think of Rt. 20 as the spine with aisles of tents and barns stretching out from it like a centipede’s legs. Here are some details if you’ve never been: • For GPS purposes, enter “21 Main St., Brimfield, MA.” • Parking is plentiful and costs from $5 to $10 per vehicle. Expect to park in paved church and school lots and in fields. • Each fair lasts for about a week. Check the fair’s website, https://thebrimfieldshow.com/, for details on specialty vendors that exhibit for only a day or two. • If you are rendezvousing with friends, agree in advance on specific coordinates. “See you at the show” is not a coordinate. A good rendezvous point is the Apple Barn Café, 52 Palmer Rd.,

Brimfield, (413) 245-4575. The café is set back from the road, but its sign pops above tents and banners. Excellent coffee, homemade pastries and sandwiches and indoor seating make for a welcome respite from the jostling crowd. • Planted on fields and parking lots, vendor displays are on uneven ground. Visitors walk along the shoulder of the road from one aisle of vendor exhibits to the next. Wear sturdy walking shoes and expect to navigate gravel and fields as well as paved surfaces. • If you anticipate buying large or bulky items such as baskets, bring a wagon. • If you are looking for fragile items such as china, bring your own bubble wrap, tape, small boxes and shopping bags to safely convey your finds home. • Bring cash and lots of it. Vendors expect to bargain, at least a bit, and many accept only cash. • Food stalls offer plenty of popcorn, sandwiches, water and other drinks. Seating for snacks and lunch is very limited. • Temporary outside toilets are located every block or so. Do not expect to use indoor bathroom facilities even at restaurants and institutions offering parking.

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