Spring into junking

Funky Junk Antique Show returns to the fairgrounds April 15-16

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff

Antique hunters, craft lovers and green thumbs now have even more reason to celebrate the arrival of longer, warmer days, as Sandpoint’s long-running and well-loved Funky Junk Antique Show is returning to the Bonner County Fairgrounds for a spring show Saturday, April 15 and Sunday, April 16.

Funky Junk founder Jennifer Wood said the inaugural event took place in the spring of 2007 and, for several years, junkers came out for two shows annually. However, for the past 11 years, Funky Junk has been held only in the fall.

“The spring show was always the most attended,” she said, “and highly anticipated after a long winter.”

This weekend’s Funky Junk will be open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, featuring live music from Bridges Home on Saturday and Dirk Swartz on Sunday. Admission is $8 (good for the whole weekend) and children 12 and under get in free.

Wood said there will be a variety of more than 100 vendor booths on site, encompassing vintage and crafted items with a homeand-garden spring theme. Also, thanks to the season, there will be plants for sale, including flowers, berries and more.

The upcoming Funky Junk will also see several options for food, as well as bakery booths, coffee and a full bar.

Funky Junk hopes to serve as the perfect excuse to shake off the winter blues and scratch the spring itch — plus, with Mother’s Day right around the corner, shoppers are sure to find the perfect gift for the cherished matriarch in their life.

“We hope folks enjoy having the show earlier in the year to kick off the junking season and lift our spirits heading into spring,” Wood said.

The Bonner County Fairgrounds are located at 4203 N. Boyer Road in Sandpoint. For updates, giveaways and more, find “Funky Junk Antique Show” on Facebook.

By Reader Staff

The Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society will host a presentation Saturday, April 15 from Kara Carleton — coordinator of the Idaho Master Gardener Program — on how to “cultivate wildness in our daily lives,” with an emphasis on supporting pollinators.

Titled “The Little Things that Run the World: Creating Plant Communities and Habitat for Northern Native Bees,” Carleton’s presentation will take place at 10 a.m. at the Sandpoint branch of the East Bonner County Library (1407 Cedar St.), and cover the characteristics of the native plant community in North Idaho, how to cultivate those plants in changing conditions, maintain them with less effort and how they can provide healthy habitats for native bees. The second part of Carleton’s program — titled “Native Beekeeping for Increased Pollination in your Garden and Orchard — will take place Saturday, May 20.

Carleton came to horticulture after careers in emergency medicine and green/LEED interior design, as well as farm management. She currently works for the University of Idaho leading the Idaho Master Gardener Program in Kootenai County. She also trains volunteers within her plant and insect diagnostic lab, and provides soil test interpretations for local gardeners and hobby farms. The program is available to both in-person and Zoom audiences. In-person attendance includes coffee, tea and treats starting at 9:30 a.m. The program is co-sponsored by East Bonner County Library District and Sandpoint Parks and Recreation, and is free and open to the public.

For those wishing to attend the program on Zoom, register in advance at bit.ly/40ObLfL.

For more information, contact Preston Andrews at KNPS.Tech@gmail.com.