Jenkins Tailgate Antiques Show Builds Traffic At Fairgrounds

Nashville, Tenn.

:Jenkins Management filled three large halls with antiques and their dealers for the Tailgate Antiques Show October 30–31 at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. During the two-day affair, the public came — more than 3,500 strong, according to show management — and spent well for antiques.

This show has a history and reputation of catering to Americana and country-style antiques; in fact, there is a great deal more to offer collectors. Steve Jenkins, company founder and president, said, "We have to keep the show current in what the customers want for their collections and home décor, so we keep looking for dealers who have what customers are buying now. That has been changing a lot in the recent past, so we now have more diverse collections, including Continental, English and even some Asian, along with industrial and a little early Twentieth Century Modern to offer."

Tailgate Antiques Show is produced in conjunction with Music Valley Antiques Show, Jenkins Management's other Nashville venue conducted on the same weekend in other buildings at the fairgrounds. (See accompanying review in this issue.)

According to Jenkins, "Tailgate has been going for nearly a quarter-century as a place for dealers to restock their inventories. For that reason, we were concerned going in about how successful the dealers would be this year selling, but our concerns were for nothing as countless of them said to me, 'We did great' or 'not bad' with regard to the dealers' sales totals for the week."

The buyers left just as happy. Said one customer from Ohio, "We came here because we know this is a time to buy; when dealers are selling at very good prices, where a few years ago it would have cost more and, frankly, in a while it'll be back up there again. They aren't making any more of the Sheraton period chests!"

Several exhibitors reported remarkable sales totals for the week, with help from a variety of buyers. Taylor Swift, the popular young country and western star, came through with her family to furnish her new home, reported to be in Hendersonville, Tenn., just north of Nashville. In one afternoon, she seemed to fill the house with furniture from several dealers and linens from Snow Leopard, Raleigh, N.C. Snow Leopard trades in fine vintage linens and some modest amounts of related accessories, such as pillows, sachets and boudoir items.

Marta and Don Orwig, Corunna, Ind., were exhibiting here as usual, for they have been regulars in Nashville for many years. Don has an unusual taste in decorating — the "tin man and his wife" sculpture, pre-World War II neon signs, a chair made from cattle horns or a candlestand made by welding horse shoes are all primed for his collection and inventory. The Orwigs' sales are often to dealers who subsequently resell a glass top table with a conveyor screw base at a show in New York City or East Hampton.

Rhonda and Russ Blank, trading as Sparrows Nest Antiques of Lincoln, Neb., have more traditional taste in their collection. For the Tailgate Show, they were offering a fireplace mantel and breast wall for less than $1,000, a Nineteenth Century store counter and the accessories for it, a pine dry sink and many more primitives.

More traditional antiques were offered by Dennis and Dad of Fitzwilliam, N.H. Dennis Berard has been collecting his earthenware for all of his adult life. His dad, now deceased, was his encourager and hence the name for the business that has become one of the largest collection of English dishes available on the antiques show circuit. Berard was selling Staffordshire, porcelain and many other forms to "regulars," as he said it, keeping his sales respectable in difficult financial times.

Regular visitors to her exhibition made the sales total strong for Connie Marks, a Rocky Point, N.C., exhibitor. Her inventory consisted of Nineteenth Century garments and the fabrics and ornamentation to make them. Trading as Victoriana, Marks sold finished 150-year-old fashions well to many who collect these pieces.

The Tailgate show used three buildings at the fairgrounds, including the Wilson Building. Smaller than the others, it housed just 14 exhibitors for the weekend, and several in it were from the St Louis, Mo., area. Their style was interesting in the similarity of their inventories, showing Twentieth Century merchandise mixed with the earlier American periods and some French provincial and empire pieces. One of those dealers suggested that St Louis was influenced early in its formation by both the English heritage of pioneers from the East and travelers from south on the Mississippi River, in New Orleans, thus, the French styles. She added that those early influences are still apparent today, but with a mix of various later styles, such as Art Deco and Modern.

Quintessential, St Louis, showed a large collection of mahogany Empire furniture with some decorative accessories in iron from the Twentieth Century. Kara Fogarty, the owner of Studio F, also from St Louis, was mixing Modern, Art Deco and early American styles with some rococo iron accessories, all in her room setting at the show.

But St Louis also likes traditional antiques. Barbara and Neil Finbloom, trading as Schoolhouse Antiques, were there with things found in colonial period, crafts and accessories. The Finblooms are both schoolteachers who retired early from Kirkwood, Mo., now enjoying antiquing as their business, showing early small pieces, such as lighting and home crafts accessories.

Tailgate Antiques Show is twice each year, currently at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds, but the site will change by 2011. For February 11–13, it will be in the same location, and also probably in October. The website www.tailgateantiqueshow.com is frequently updated with any changes, but look for the opening on Thursday, February 11.

Jenkins Management also produces shows in Springfield, Ohio, monthly and Farmington, Conn., in June and Labor Day weekend. For information, 317-598-0012 or email info@jenkinsshows.com .