Brimfield Antique Show - Take a Look!

For the second time ever, Colette and I went to the Brimfield Antique Show this week! We were so excited that she had Tuesday off work, because it was our one and only chance to go, given other commitments on our calendars. We packed our totes with bottles of water, cash, trail mix, and other necessaries for surviving a day of some serious antique shopping.

The Brimfield Antique Show happens three times a year and runs for five days each time. Antique dealers pitch their tents in the fields along a mile-long stretch of highway that runs through the small Massachusetts town of Brimfield. We began at the beginning, which is entirely sensible, and shopped nearly the entire show in about six hours!

And of course I took pictures! Would you like to armchair travel to Brimfield? I'd love to show you! Follow me. I'm the one in the red pants and shoes!

We loved the booths where the vendors made an effort to capture the spirit of a New England autumn in their displays! So appealing!

Ahhh...a quintessential Brimfield scene! It's the opportunity to shop booths like this that draws people to Brimfield over and over again.

Everything, big or small, can be found at Brimfield...from silverware to canoes. Isn't that white canoe just so gorgeous?

I admired the oodles of flags, patriotic bunting, and swaths of red/white/blue fabric. You should know that the going price for a full-size, cloth, U.S. flag in excellent condition at Brimfield is about $65.00. So, if you see one at an antique store near you for much less, snatch it up!

We marveled at these 8-ft. long snowshoes. What? How can that be? It turns out that they were once part of a store display, and not cast-offs from a giant.

I admired this farmhouse table. Isn't it novel? I'd never seen one with a rectangular base and an oval top. Excellent idea, since you can always seat more people at an oval table.

Brimfield is a great place to add to a collection you might have...from shoe forms to Japanese fishing floats to European deer antlers. Aren't fishing floats captivating in their beauty when grouped together?

Time for lunch. There are plenty of food trucks to tempt you with everything from garlic pizza to gourmet grilled cheese. Colette opted for the grilled cheese with cheddar, fig jam, and arugula. Yum! And since we were in Massachusetts in the autumn, this sandwich vendor had exactly what I wanted.

As you know, I love a good picnic, because I sort of thrive on creating happy memories for people. So this booth, with its beautifully displayed picnic accoutrements, was our favorite of the day! 

And this picnic basket, with so many of its original pieces, was beautiful too!

Brimfield is a great place to find the unusual.

This was one of the more unusual items we saw...a large wooden box, lined with tin with compartments for ice cream. Each compartment was about 12" across and 16" deep. When full of ice cream, it must be very heavy. 

The weather was alternately misting light rain or the sun was threatening to come out. But by afternoon, we were hot and thirsty, so we stopped for one of the famous Del's frozen lemonades. Delicious!

Then Colette headed back to the car with her purchases, while I dashed back to purchase one more item. Her purchase for the day were: two vintage wool blankets in autumn colors, a brass pheasant to sit on her desk, two hat boxes adorned with hunting scenes, and a polo mallet.

And I bought these: four butterscotch-colored bakelite forks to add to my picnic collection, a small thermos (in mint condition) with a leather case, and a European deer skull. 

The deer skull was hung in the kitchen today. (Did you ever notice they hang in the kitchen at Downton?) Well, it continues a long tradition in Europe and early America of displaying antlers as a reminder that God has given us the beasts of the earth to be responsibly used for food.

I hope you enjoyed armchair traveling to Brimfield! You really must go in person sometime!