6 minute read
Crazy Days fun��������������������������������������������������� Summer antiquing �����������������������������������������16-18
Head downtown for Head downtown for Crazy Days fun Crazy Days fun
Businesses go all out to make shopping fun for Crazy Days in downtown Park Rapids Thursday, July 28 and Friday, July 29.
On Thursday, free kids entertainment and activities in Pioneer Park will add to the festivities as a bonus to bargains shoppers will find both days.
Donna Anderson, University of Minnesota Extension SNAPEd Educator, will offer chalk art, water coloring, coloring, planting and an obstacle course starting at 8 a.m. in Pioneer Park. Anderson has brought the “Go Wild with Fruits & Veggies!” curriculum to Park Rapids 4th grade students for several years, and this winter, expanded the program to arts in health. This new component promotes the health benefits of arts engagement to children by developing popular fruit, vegetable and activity-loving animal characters, like Derek Deer, Riley Raccoon and Becky Bear, as artists.
The Park Rapids Downtown Business Association, Park Rapids Area Library and Friends of the Library will sponsor Mixed Nuts, starting at 10:30 a.m. in Pioneer Park. This free show for kids promises lots of laughs and audience participation.
Shop local like crazy on sidewalks and inside stores both days.
In addition to the Park Rapids Downtown Business Association, Arvig is a sponsor of Crazy Days this year.
The 2nd Street Stage Smokey Hills Tap Castle will open at 5 p.m. with a social hour from 5 to 6 p.m. and the free concert featuring The Limns from 6 to 8 p.m.
Pontoons&SkiBoah
Hwy. 71 S., Menahga Mon - Fri 8:30am - 5pm Saturday 8:30am - Noon
• Marine & Small Engine Repair • Rental Equipment • Supplies • Storage • Docks, Lifts & More
Get the most out of summer antiquing
BY ROBIN FISH
Park Rapids Enterprise
“In the summer, a shopper’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of antiques,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson never said. But he also never visited the Heartland Lakes area.
A few of the area’s many antique dealers shared their tips for finding something fancy during this summer’s antiquing season.
Of three thrift stores operated by the Hubbard County Developmental Achievement Center (DAC), the Tin Ceiling at 113 Main Ave. S. in Park Rapids is the one that specializes in antiques. Barely Used handles clothing and home goods; Salvage Depot carries bigger stuff, including some antique furniture. All three stores sell donated items to support DAC programs, including employment for their clients.
Sherri Stensing, program supervisor at Tin Ceiling, said the store gets a large variety of antiques from the 1940s, 50s, 60s and up, including glassware, military items and vintage decor. Their biggest sellers are books and jewelry.
“We have a wedding dress from the 1940s,” she said. “We have an antique baker’s shelf” – patented in 1896, built in 1920. “We have some old vintage world globes and sailboats. We have a lot of old musical instruments.”
Her tips for collectors include being diligent in your shopping. “We get new items most every single day,” she said. “The first day, we may not have what you’re looking for, and then the next day, we may have (it).”
Also, Stensing said, “Do your research. There are so many little tips and tricks on how to identify authentic from non-.”
Larger items
Across town at the Salvage Depot, on 320 Career Path, manager Emily Whitaker said they get old record players, antique couches and dressers, hutches, chairs, and outdoor patio sets.
“We have a couple of 1970s couches,” she said. “They’re very orange and floral.”
Other interesting items in the store include a ram’s skull and a longhorn cow wall hanging, cut from a large piece of sheet metal.
Everything there moves fast, Whitaker said, including old dressers and desks that people take home, refinish and flip to sell at flea markets.
With summer in full swing, she said, outdoor gardening tools and furniture especially are coming in and going right back out.
When shopping for collectible furniture, Whitaker advised looking at craftsmanship, such as dovetailing in the DON’T OVERLOOK drawers of a wooden dresser, or maker’s THOSE UGLY, PAINTED DRESSERS marks on the back or bottom of a piece. “There’s a lot of information online on different antiques and their values,” [...] YOU MIGHT FIND A TREASURE she said. She also suggested making sure your item is solid wood, with no cheap ply-
UNDERNEATH THE PAINT. wood or cardboard on the back, and whether it’s built with nails or screws, which can give you an idea of its age. - Emily Whitaker “Don’t overlook those ugly, painted dressers,” she added. “Underneath the paint is probably some gorgeous wood. Don’t disregard it just because it’s an ugly color. It can always be stripped, and you might find a treasure underneath the paint.”
That’s what Aune Longfors said, anyway. She’s the owner at Aune’s Kauppala in Snellman.
“People bring in dish sets,” she said. “Younger people don’t put out dishware; you know, fancy, matching dishes, cups and saucers. They just don’t do that anymore.”
Recalling her family having a matching dish set when she was growing up, Longfors said that kind of thing interests her.
She agreed that antique furniture sells quickly. She recently set up a desk in her showroom and it sold the same day, before lunch.
“I can’t have a big amount of them, but older pieces of furniture, I think, intrigue people,” she said. “They like to repurpose things of that nature.”
Another big area is decorative pieces, such as old enameled coffee pots. “Honest to God, it’s a duke’s mixture here,” she said. Better to reuse
Asked about tips for collectors, Linda Kiehl said “They can always call us, and we have a want list. If they’re looking for something in particular, we put it on there. The dealers do keep an eye on it, to see if they have anything at home.”
Kiehl is a co-owner of SuLaines Antique Mall in Detroit Lakes, a consignment store with about 60 vendors. She said it should have something for everyone, “from primitives all the way up to 80s and 90s collectibles.”
One way to tell a modern reproduction, she said, “if it’s metal construction or even wood, is if it doesn’t have flathead screws in it; you know, if it has the machine screws.”
For really old furniture, she advised looking for square-nail construction, a sign that something dates from the 1800s – though reproducers are learning to fake even this.
Kiehl says men seem to like the toys and fishing items, while women mostly go for home decor pieces. “Coins and currency, right now, are really selling well,” she said. “A lot of younger people are getting interested in that.”
She finds the primitive pieces most interesting, because they’re the hardest to find.
“I think there’s a couple of old well buckets here from the 1800s,” she said. “We have a really good variety of old toys. Those are very popular, like the John Deere tractors and the vintage model cars.”
In today’s uncertain economy, Kiehl said, “Investing in antique furniture, you’re gonna be able to buy it much cheaper than you can buy a new piece, and 99% of the time it’s gonna be much better quality.”
She added, “It’s always better to reuse something than it is to go buy new, in my opinion.”
