Adirondack Mountains Antiques Show

INDIAN LAKE, N.Y.

:Based on both past and present history, it would not be wise to plan a picnic in northern New York State on the same weekend as the popular Adirondack Mountains Antiques Show. There is better than a 90 percent chance that there will be some sort of rainfall to dampen any event.

Such was the case again this year as the show moved onto the spacious grounds of Byron Park on Route 28, bordering the picturesque Indian Lake. Set up was under a cloudy and threatening sky on Thursday and Friday morning, and shortly after the 235 patrons at the preview party entered the grounds at 2 pm Friday, the heavens broke loose. Tent flaps began roiling down, umbrellas popped up, and rain gear for the dealers seemed to appear like magic from under canoes and out of the drawers of rustic furniture.

The rain slowed down many of the visitors, but others scampered from tent to tent, eventually taking shelter in one of the two large tents or in the park pavilion. And for those who sought food rather than antiques, the caterers were under cover slicing up a steamship roast and turkey breast in the midst of a selection of fruits, cheese and "fattening" deserts.

The show, now in its fourteenth year, is sponsored by the Town of Indian Lake and it truly is a town-wide function. Students at the high school are given time off to work as porters, moving the dealers in and out as well as delivering sold items to the pickup gate, town ladies help with the refreshment stand and ticket sales, and maintenance men are about to take care of any mechanical or plumbing failures. One lady in town who is too busy to help out is the bartender at the local "drinkery" in the center of town. For when not behind the bar mixing drinks, or pulling the beer tap, she runs next door, unlocks the package store, helps the customer, locks it back up and returns behind the bar to take care of the thirsty.

Jerry Oliver, who with his partner Michael Gannon manages the show, said, "Our gate was up this year and not a single dealer came to me after the show and said it was a bomb." Attendance was just under 3,000 and there was a good flow of sold objects leaving the park. Adirondack furniture, representing several age brackets, proved popular, and the largest moose head in the booth of Jon Magoun left Indian Lake heading for Greenwich, Conn. Trade signs, ranging from the Pines Café to blacksmith shop and from vegetables to cabins for rent, were sold, and some of the collectors spent hours sorting through the many cases of fishing lures spread open for inspection. Hunting and fishing badges were plentiful, some displayed by year from 1900, and among the outboard motors were a few that looked as if they had just been taken from the back of a boat, while others were "spit and polished" and ready for inspection. Canoe paddles, oars, framed fish pictures and hunting scenes, shotgun shells in the original boxes, and many stuffed fish caught the interest of those outfitting a lodge and those hoping to start one.

"It's easy to be bitten by Adirondack material," one shopper said as he paid for an early fishing reel in the original box. And the 60 dealers in the show were more than willing to help.