After nearly 50 years of managing the Greater York Antiques Show, more than 40 years in tandem with her late husband Jim, Donna Burk is handing over the reins to a new management team, Mitchell Displays of Westville, N.J.
Robert Bockius, a principal for Mitchell, said his firm’s main focus has been as a provider of display cases for shows. Founded in 1968, the same year Jim and Donna Burk launched the York shows, Mitchell Displays lists long experience in providing display services in the Eastern and Midwestern United States, and it currently supplies displays for more than 75 antiques, collectibles and book shows each year.
Burk said that there were a couple of factors in her decision to step down from active show management, one being the overall economy affecting the trade and the other being a desire to give up the day-to-day stresses of hands-on show management. A ripe opportunity was the clincher, she added, when she learned that Bockius was interested in expanding into show management, and specifically taking on the Greater York Antiques Show. “The Good Lord above was with me and everything worked out great,” she said.
Bockius said the he, too, is looking forward to a smooth transition, and for now envisions not making any big changes. Burk will still be in the picture for the spring show in a transitional role doing “whatever [Bob] wants me to do,” she said. Other than the change in management, everything else about the show remains unchanged †show dates for 2013 are May 17‱8, the show’s website, as well as its sponsor, the Men’s Club of the York YMCA, also remain the same. The show, which generally features about 60 dealers in room settings or with showcases and tables, is a great source for Pennsylvania material, New England furniture, pottery, folk art and vintage holiday decorative accessories.
Longer term, Bockius stated that he wants to bring the show back to standards of ten or so years ago when it was “the best Americana show in the country, on par with New Hampshire and Nashville.”
For those who like to plan ahead, dates for the fall Greater York Antiques Show are October 25′6. For information, 856-686-9000 or www.jimburkantiqueshows.net . ⁗D
