Battered and rain-soaked, this “Welcome to Brimfield” sign was one of the first things visitors to the annual event saw as they came into town.
By Madelia Hickman Ring, W.A. Demers, Carly Timpson, Kiersten Busch & Rick Russack
BRIMFIELD, MASS. — Buyers and sellers who make the semiannual pilgrimage to the Brimfield Antique Flea Markets know that the experience is entirely weather-dependent and dress accordingly. The spring 2024 edition, which stretched from Tuesday, May 14 through Sunday, May 19, gave those present the chance to wear everything they brought, from waterproof top layers, long pants and sturdy shoes to shorts, T-shirts and sandals. The fields welcomed people from all over New England, the greater United States and even international buyers, proving that what was once a small local event has blossomed into a world-wide destination for those seeking antiques, vintage and handmade crafts. For the first of the three editions that will take place in 2024, the spring edition lived up to its reputation as being one of the busiest of the three, with visitors looking to snap up objects that sellers have been squirreling away over winter.
Dealer’s Choice
The wonderful weather on Tuesday, May 14, only added to the excitement and enthusiasm in the air at the gates of Dealer’s Choice, just before its 11 am opening. Vendors were just making the final touches on their booths when the mad dash to enter began, as hundreds of potential buyers rushed onto the field, rolling carts and tote bags in tow. Vintage clothing dealers seemed to multiply before our very eyes, selling to a wide range of customers, but especially newer and younger buyers. However, there was still a diverse range of items being offered across the field for collectors and dealers of all kinds. Furniture, light fixtures and carpets were plentiful, as well as paintings and advertising. For those interested in Americana and militaria, there were also a diverse spread of booths with enticing offerings. Many vendors were reporting sales of numerous objects, some of which were left for pickup later in the day.
For around 40 years, Paul Martin Antiques, Haverhill, Mass., has descended upon Brimfield. This year he brought furniture, trunks, Americana and various other antiques to Dealer’s Choice.
New England Motel
Les Skowyra and his sons, Josh and Adam, acquired the New England Motel field before the 2023 shows and with a full year and three editions now under their belts, they were eager to open the gates for their fourth show, which opened at 6 am on Wednesday, May 15, and continued for the rest of the week, weathering all the rain and sunshine that could be had. The field usually welcomes more than 400 dealers, of which nearly 20 were showing at the field for the first time. Josh Skowyra said he and many of the other field managers have been working to promote the fields on social media. Even within a few hours of the field opening on the first day, there were lots of signs of successful commerce: handcarts laden with acquired goodies, sold tags adorned pieces awaiting transport to their next home and the hustle and bustle of sellers rearranging their booths to hide the gaps where things had already been taken away.
Many antiques dealers who still run brick-and-mortar businesses have, since the pandemic, opted to join communal antiques malls where shoppers will find wares from many dealers all under one roof. An increasing number of booths — at New England Motel and other fields — use the opportunity of Brimfield to sell some things and spread their name to shoppers. One such mall was Gold Star Treasures Antique & Vintage Mall, which hosts more than 60 vendors in Whitman, Mass.
Brian LaTour and Kile Parent are Windwood Carvers from Warren, Mass. Just three months ago, they started creating signs from recycled and found wood. A favorite with local businesses, they were showing at Brimfield for the first time.
From Knollwood Galleries, Richard A. LaVigne, left, was busy transacting one of many sales he had already closed within the first two hours the New England Motel field was open.
Richard A. LaVigne took a couple of weeks off from setting up Knollwood Galleries’ new shop in Lee, Mass. — slated to open its doors around July 4 — to set up a perennially elegant booth in the middle pavilion. Brimfield business was brisk and he had a grouping of things with sold tags near one side of his booth, ready for easy pickup. After the field closed, he emailed Antiques and The Arts Weekly to report that more than 65 percent of his booth sold, with more items on hold. A two-part late Eighteenth/early Nineteenth Century cabinet sold to a buyer in Vermont, while one buyer in Detroit, Mich., bought 17 things and more than 40 pieces were to be delivered to New York City.
Heart-O-The-Mart
“The energy across the entire show is great,” observed Eric Moriarty, son of Heart-O-The-Mart field owners Don and Pam Moriarty. “Set-up was easy, the gate was great, the field was full and we’re seeing a lot of new dealers and buyers, including ones from other countries. At the end of the day, what matters is whether dealers are having a good show.” Since his parents started the field in 1982, it’s grown significantly from six original dealers to about 400. Part of the field is now a concentration of textile and vintage clothing dealers, which Moriarty said appeals to shoppers.
Selling on Brimfield’s Heart-O-The-Mart field for the first time were Justin Jones, CJ Pitcher and Claudio Fernicola. Advertising signs is the specialty of Pick & Pitcher Antiques in Maine.
Alex Barker’s father and uncle have always had a booth on Heart-O-The-Mart’s “A” row and now the dealer from upstate New York is right next to the fence. Glass is one of his specialties.
Alex Barker is the third member of his family and a second generation Brimfield vendor from upstate New York. He currently occupies a prime spot just inside Heart-O-The-Mart’s main gate and says he “buys anything I think is cool, including glass because I think it’s pretty.”
Brimfield draws new visitors each year. This year, you couldn’t miss a group of eight ladies who sported pink T-shirts that read “Girls Gone Junkin” to experience Brimfield for the first time. The friends drove up from Florida, rented a house for the week and hit the fields to find whatever they liked.
Brooklyn, N.Y., vintage dealer Martha Camarillo of Gypsy Nation Vintage had a large selection of vintage costume and fashion books she’d acquired from a friend whose neighbor had been a curator of patterns and fabrics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1960s-70s.
Next to Camarillo, Public!Sale Auctions in Hudson, N.Y., pitched a tent and had brought a few things from an upcoming auction, including a number of natural slag casting remnants.
This imposing Victorian bookcase was one of the top lots in Brimfield Antiques’ in-person-only auction the evening of Thursday, May 16. Klia Ververidis Crisafulli said it sold for about $3,000, including buyer’s premium.
Brimfield Antiques (formerly Hertans)
The irrepressible Klia Ververidis Crisfulli runs a tight ship at the Brimfield Antiques field, which was formerly known as Hertan’s. There is a strict “no buying before noon” policy and the crowds that gathered outside the field’s three gates midday on Wednesday swelled so that traffic on Route 20 slowed to a near standstill before she rang the bell. About 250 dealers come, some just during the week, others for her Weekend Warrior show that welcomes visitors who can only attend on the weekend. About 75 percent of her field is filled with long-running returning vendors, the rest are new to her field.
“The rain didn’t impact the field at all and we had a gate that while not a record breaker was in line with previous shows. What was really unbelievable was that the crowds just kept coming. When I first started doing Brimfield, about 15 years ago, it would be like a ghost town on Sundays but this year, there were the most people I’d ever seen in Brimfield on a Sunday.
“We push really hard promoting the event on social media and it’s paying off,” she confirmed. In addition to continual traffic through the week, she reported her in-person-only auction was well attended, as was the Friday evening dance party — which had a 1970s prom theme — and open-mic night on Saturday.
Tony Tomanini, American Rustic Woodworks in Spencer, Mass., has been in business for four years and is one of the new vendors at Brimfield Antiques. When asked what he makes, Tomanini said “all the things you can’t find on Google,” more specifically things out of reclaimed wood. Think signs, planters, small pieces of furniture, dog houses and the like.
In spite of the weather, many booths on May’s field quickly filled with shoppers.
May’s Antique Market
The weather on Thursday, May 16, May’s opening day, was rainy and cold, far from ideal. Did it affect the size of the crowd and the amount of business? Hardly. Martha May said the crowd was only slightly smaller than normal but dealers reported very strong sales, especially during the first two hours. Some exhibitors decided not to set up the first day, choosing not to expose their merchandise to the elements, but the second and third days had the usual number of exhibitors.
May’s is one of the largest shows in Brimfield, with space for more than 500 dealers. Some are specialist dealers with focused inventory whereas others are generalists. It’s been part of the Brimfield experience since 1977, when it began with 20 dealers. It’s promoted as the show where “Everyone Is An Early Buyer” because exhibitors are not permitted to put out any merchandise until the show opens at 9 am. In practice, that also means that other exhibitors are not able to “shop” the show before the public is admitted. The result is a mix of dealers, many of whom have done the show for decades and others doing the show for the first time. In this instance, there were about a dozen first-time sellers.
Some exhibitors spend the entire week in Brimfield, setting up at other shows before doing May’s; others only do May’s. One of the “all-week” dealers, Josh Steenburgh, Pike N.H., said, “We sold well and we bought well all week. It still blows my mind how much material from all over the country gets dragged in and out of Brimfield three times a year. The weather makes no difference.”
Heather Lalonde, New England Old World Antiques, Granby, Mass., filled a large booth at May’s field with Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century English furniture and accessories. She had a good show, selling both furniture and most of the delft in this photo.
Heather Lalonde, New England Old World Antiques, Granby, Mass., is one of the specialist dealers who focuses on early European furniture and accessories. She only does May’s and agrees that weather makes no difference. She said, “At first, I wasn’t sure what the reaction would be to the specialized material I deal in, but the crowds are so large that I’ve developed a good following of people who are interested in the very early English and other material I bring. And the weather on Thursday made no difference in my sales or the new contacts I made.”
After the show, Martha May said that nearly all the dealers she had spoken with told her that they were pleased with the show, in spite of the less-than-ideal weather.
Left to right- State representative Todd Smola, Rusty Corriveau, Kate Corriveau and Senator Ryan Fattman at the unveiling of the memorial plaque for founder Gordon Reid and the property at 35 Main Street, listed in the National Register of Historical Places.
Brimfield Auction Acres
…And on the fifth day, behold, there was sunshine! Dealers and shoppers heaved a sigh of relief on May 17 as a strong crowd assembled for the field’s 8 am opening. Eager shoppers jostled shoulder to shoulder at three show entrances, and after nearly a solid week of rain, Auction Acres had dried out beautifully by Friday. Part of that is due to its higher elevation than other markets, so the rain quickly runs off.
The field that started it all, the birthplace and originator of the Brimfield Antiques Show, was recognized as listed in the National Register of Historical places by the US Department of the Interior. A special guest, Republican House Senator Ryan C. Fattman for the district of Worcester and Hampden, was on hand for the unveiling of the bronze and stone monument in front of the iconic red barn where field founder Gordon Reid’s auctioneering days began. Fattman, in fact, said that his house has been furnished with items from the flea market, and he added to them on Friday when he and his wife walked the show.
When Covid-19 shut down this show and others, Kate Corriveau had an idea to register the field. Corriveau and her husband, Rusty Corriveau, then enlisted the Brimfield Historical Society and the Massachusetts Historical Commission to credit auctioneer and market founder Gordon Reid for his vision. Additional VIPs relating to Reid’s vision of creating “The greatest outdoor antiques show under the sun” were also present in the form of Gordon Reid III, Laurie Prescott and Jill Mathieu, progeny of Judith Reid Mathieu and Jill Reid Lukesh, who ran the field for many years as J&J Promotions.
Field co-owner Kate Corriveau and her general manager Crystal McGuire. —Brimfield Auction Acres
Originally opened by Reid in 1959 as Brimfield’s first outdoor antiques show, Auction Acres is now run by Rusty and Kate Corriveau, who wrangle the hundreds of dealers three times each year on the 36-acre property. Shortly after the Corriveaus acquired the field, they transformed the original barn into Brimfield Winery and Cider Barn, which is open to guests and serves up wine, live music and more.
Bruce Johnstone, a dealer from Norfolk, Mass., was wearing a wristband that identified him as being in Reid’s first show in 1959. He related that he was 7 years old at the time and had come with his 29-year-old mother. “I said, ‘Mom, I want to go home,’” he recalled. But his mother didn’t relent and here he was 65 years later selling — mostly gold and silver items because “they’re a haven.”
Celebrating their 50th show were brothers David and Don Rose, who specialize in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century furniture and decorative accessories. Among their items was a matched pair of children’s Victorian rocking chairs. They also had some musical instruments on offer, including two early four-string banjos and a vintage Gibson KG-1 guitar in cherry red.
The midsummer edition of Brimfield will run July 9-14 while the last edition of the year is scheduled for September 3-8. For information, www.brimfieldantiquefleamarket.com.
