On The Trail - Aug. 2010
At home…at Brimfield…and on the road
With Tom O'Hara
Howdy Folks!
This is the busiest time of the year with great shows, a time when as a dealer we set up at about two shows a week for six weeks. We also find even more for our news report on these pages of Northeast Antiques each month.
Elephant’s Trunk
This month, we started off with an early Sunday morning at Elephant’s Trunk, that short shopping experience on Route 7 in New Milford, Conn. where about 300 exhibitors and 15-20 food venders spend about six hours very early in the morning trading antiques and decorative household items. If exhibiting, the drill is to be on line by about 4:30 a.m., as the field opens at 4:45 a.m. for exhibiting. Spaces are determined by where you are in the line, no choice - with the exception of those vendors with full-year contracts. Upon entering your space (at a cost of $50 for a van or truck and two people), most begin to unload and set out their collections. Some, however, use this early arrival to shop.
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On The Trail - July 2010
Plenty of travel, lots of shows, and some news & notes…
With Tom O'Hara
 Howdy Folks!
We are home in Sharon, Conn. while writing this month’s report of the last four weeks, and it is good to be home. The traveling for summer is greatly reduced as we spend most of our time doing shows in New England.
Pennsylvania
York and East Berlin, Penn. were the first stops for this monthly journal. The York Antiques Show, managed by Jim Burk’s widow, Donna, with help from their children, was May 21-22, with about 75 dealers exhibiting at Memorial Hall in York Expo, better known as York Fairgrounds. This venue has settled into just two shows now with the only tailgating activity the East Berlin Antiques Show accommodating about 30 exhibitors about 20 minutes west of York. A few years ago there were as many as five shows happening on the “Burk York Weekend,” with four of them at York Fairgrounds. Now the hours for East Berlin are set so dealers and visitors can shop this show without conflicting Burk’s show. East Berlin opened Thursday; Friday it re-opened at 1 p.m. and all day Saturday. Burk’s York opened Friday morning and all day Saturday.
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On The Trail - June 2010
May madness…and other news
With Tom O'Hara
 Howdy Folks!
Somewhere east of the Mississippi - how’s that for a dateline? It is two days before the filing deadline for this month’s report to you and I am wandering across several states in the eastern time zone, reporting on the activities of a tinker peddling his antiques. But I am enjoying myself, and I think I can make enough to keep the creditors happy.
The last shows we were reporting included those monster shows in Texas, and then it was home again. Now the season for the outdoor markets in New England and other Northeastern States has begun.
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On The Trail - May 2010
Reporting from Round Top Texas, Atlanta and beyond…
With Tom O'Hara
 Howdy Folks!
Sharon, Conn.- Yes we made it back to Sharon, on this very day of the deadline for the next report on what we see happening in antiques as a business. The day after the last submission was spent getting all things ready for Texas, which included getting a new transmission.
In addition, two days were spent organizing a load for an auction consisting of merchandise which had been seen by all possible customers, but not purchased. It included some furniture, which while not pure antiques was good for someone to have for their own home or second home, and articles which were the non-antiques from a few total house buyouts. Unfortunately, the sale was very poorly attended and so the total for all the items offered was extremely low - only about 25 percent of what was expected, about 10 percent of the price tags for the inventory items. It was an experiment with an auction house where we had attended auctions before, and so, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, at least I made room in my warehouse for some other things.
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On The Trail - April 2010
From Nashville to New York
With Tom O'Hara
 Howdy Folks!
Well here we are in Sharon, Conn. for almost a week now, the longest spell at home since last summer. Travel this year has been outrageous - so far this year we have been from home to Texas and Alabama twice and we will be there again by the time this report is in print - 14,000 miles in the first two months.
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On The Trail - March 2010
With Tom O'Hara
 Howdy Folks!
Nashville, Tenn.: Here we are in the Music City finishing up for the month on Valentine’s Day weekend with the Jenkins Management double header, Music Valley Antiques Show and Tailgate Antiques Show. Great fun, not bad selling and fantastic buying in the nearly week long event, but lets take the month in chronological order again.
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On The Trail - Feb. 2010
With Tom O’Hara
 Howdy Folks!
Happy New Year and it is, as you are reading this monthly report, late January or even early February, the middle of winter and cabin fever should be hitting you hard by now. We are coming to you from various distant locations in the south including Alabama, Georgia and even Texas where we have been exhibiting or covering and shopping the shows.
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On The Trail - Jan. 2010
With Tom O’Hara
 Howdy Folks!
And now we are in the last month of the year as we sit in a friend’s Alabama living room beginning to write this last report for 2009. Gee whiz, it seems like so short a time ago when I was writing this monthly report for Harold Hansen, founding publisher for Northeast Antiques and discussing the coming new millennium of 2000. Is time moving faster or is it just my perspective? 2010 is days away, so the 10 years went in a flash, the shows have been hard work, but by being selective we are still making a living brokering antiques. The big promoters are still producing the big shows, while some other promoters have dropped, along with many shows. Promoters who work hard to fill the shows with good antiques have been able to draw enough customers to keep the business vibrant. Stella had a great show on the eleventh floor of a Manhattan Building; Jenkins has changed the venue for their Nashville shows and filled them with dealers and customers; Round Top Texas for Susan Franks has tripled the dealer base successfully in just five years under her management.
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On The Trail - Dec 09
With Tom O’Hara
 Howdy Folks!
This is now just about Thanksgiving and the shows for the year are quieting down soon, but not yet, as we are exhibiting every week and covering lots more shows and auctions. And while the dealers I meet admit sales are not what they may have been 10 or 20 years ago, they are sufficient enough to make a good living. There are buyers out there for the right stuff: Antiques with legitimate histories ready for the customers to use without hesitation. So while dealers are not selling furniture in the quantities of past years, customers will reward themselves with special fine objects to add to their collections.
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On The Trail - Nov 09
With Tom O’Hara
 Howdy Folks!
It was lots of miles for ten days in Texas, well, actually eight and a half, but also, lots of fun and pretty good sales.
After the double header in Ohio for Stella’s Country Living and Jenkins’ Springfield Extravaganza, we cooled our heels in Indianapolis for a few days, before leaving for Round Top, Tex. on a Thursday morning. Even from Indiana the trip was two days, about 1,200 miles start to finish. It had me traveling roads less traveled, and in a part, never before traveled, arriving Friday evening at a lodge overlooking a wooded thicket and small lake, with deer grazing just outside the screened back porch.
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