Offering something for everyone, the 36th Annual Traverse Area Antique Club Spring Show and Sale featured dealers from around the region and state.
Camped out Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center's Howe Arena, the vendors hoped that their wares would be just the thing to part some of the hundreds of passerby from their money.
Figuring out what shoppers want is a moving target and dealers strive constantly for a winning combination of merchandise. They comb estate sales, garage sales, auctions and each other's booths for both product and ideas. Part of the show, in fact, was dealers trading items back and forth as they bought off of each other. Sometimes they are taking a chance on something while other purchases are for a regular customer.
"It's a guessing game," said Bob Boehm of B and B Antiques in Frankfort, who displayed a range of items from furniture to telephones to kitchen items at his booth. "Last year I sold quite a few church pews and this year they haven't gone anywhere."
With booths offering everything from children's toys to rooms of furniture, from a stair step from a Pullman sleeper car to postcards, shoppers browsed and sifted for treasure. Elberta resident Bonnie Ness had one kind of gold in mind: a cookbook she did not already have. A collector with more than 1,000 volumes already, her philosophy is that there is always room for more.
"I've collected cookbooks from the time I was married," said Ness, who has culled many useful recipes from her collection. "I'm always looking for that perfect recipe."
A display of bright antique Chinese lanterns made of paper and bamboo captivated Tonia Baird of Interlochen, who decisively snapped up two.
"I'm redecorating my son's room in an Asian theme," she said.
Jean Barnard of Traverse City pondered over a sugar bowl from an English tea set, attracted to the dainty piece but unsure if she really wanted it. An eclectic collector, she buys on instinct and whim, treasuring finds such as an old brass door pull or a hand-cranked raisin seeder.
"I'm one that just comes along and if something calls me from across the room, I buy it," she said. "You just don't know what you're going to find."
While clothes, dishes and quilts abounded, the show had plenty of items to draw a man's attention with booths offering oil cans, sporting goods, fire extinguishers, medals, keys and tools.
"It's always a good idea to have something for the guys," said Sandy Theiner, who owns an antique business north of Alpena. "I split the booth with a girlfriend and she always has guy stuff, she has an eclectic mix and I do primitives."
Theiner said that even a slower show is not a waste of time but can actually be a boon to dealers. Unlike with a store, where shoppers may be sporadic, a show brings people in and exposes them to wares, planting a seed of need. Most antique shows also promote upcoming shows in the state and region, giving dealers a greater audience for the future.
The annual Antique Show and Sale also serves as a fundraiser for the Traverse Area Antiques Club, which every year donates the proceeds of the gate to area charities. Since the show began in 1970, the organization has given more than $225,000 to charity.
This spring, the club distributed $8,000 from last year's event to charities in the region. These organizations included Love, Inc., the House of Hope, the Animal Welfare League of Benzie County, the Multiple Sclerosis Swim Program and Wings of Wonder.