Candace Coney, Weatherford, Texas.
Review & Onsite Photos by Andrea Valluzzo
PARK RIDGE, N.J. — For first-time attendees, the array of holiday decorations, ornaments and antiques on offer at The East Coast Vintage & Antique All-Holidays Show on April 12 at the Marriott Park Ridge may have been dizzying.
As one might expect, Christmas was prominently featured with snowmen, angels, Santas, reindeer and colorful factory-made and hand-blown glass ornaments everywhere you turned. Easter was also well represented and, for the first time in the show’s three-year history, Halloween scared up some serious competition, nearly running neck and neck with Christmas.
“We were always sort of Christmas-heavy, and now it really is a balance between Halloween and Christmas. I saw that this year. It was a lot more Halloween,” said the show’s founder, Craig McManus. “And, in my experience from the show, vintage Halloween is red-hot right now. I think it’s as popular as vintage Christmas.”
McManus, who hails from Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J. (but for the context of this show slyly listed his home base as Ho-Ho-Ho-Kus), started the show after years of being involved with the Golden Glow of Christmas Past group.
For first-time visitors, the bounty of holiday antiques all under one roof is a bit like being a kid in a candy store.
“It really is a beautiful, broad section of things, and the nice thing about this show is it’s all vintage holidays — there are no other antiques — and it represents everything from popular midcentury to classic Victorian,” he explained.
The show typically attracts two kinds of buyers, he noted. “There’s a crowd that recognizes everything they grew up with and that’s what they want to buy.” The other group comprises diehard collectors of Victorian and early 1900s pre-war high end items. “They didn’t own these when they were children, but as they’ve gotten older and have the means to buy, they have started collections of really these wonderful museum-quality Christmas pieces.”
Attendance was up this year, McManus said, with more than 300 attendees over the whole weekend and almost 60 dealers. He actually had to turn away a few dealers for lack of space, but said he plans to reconfigure the space next year to be able to add more.
“We were up on all counts and some of the dealers came a long distance and they drove cross-country. Of the Texas dealers, one of them took 24 hours with a couple stops to get here,” he reported.
Show promoter Craig McManus stands in his booth next to a feather tree decorated with 1920s candles.
Preceding the show on Sunday, a series of educational talks were scheduled to offer vendors and shoppers a full weekend of programming. “We had four great talks, and then we had a dinner afterwards. The reason I do that is for the people that are traveling a distance, I don’t want them to just drive all that way, get to a show early in the morning and have to drive all the way home. This gives them a chance to get in Friday or Saturday morning, really relax and enjoy a casual day of programming, and then they can get a good night’s sleep to get up and be bright and early for the show,” McManus said. “I have to laugh because most of the people I talked to said to me they couldn’t sleep because they were so excited about getting up early. It was that kid on Christmas morning feeling.”
Dealers seemed to have that feeling even after the show ended, reporting being pleased with their sales. Among those we talked to afterwards, David Arsenault said he thought this year’s show was extremely successful and well-attended. “This was my second year selling, and I made almost twice as much as last year,” he shared. “I got many compliments on my booth, which I really took to heart since everything I sell is from my personal collection and has been displayed by me previously. This year was my first time branching into Halloween items, and those proved to be what grabbed the most attention. Specifically, I sold two styrene plastic Halloween items that accounted for one-fifth of my sales total for the day. Beyond that, I got to connect with so many fellow collector friends who I only see once or twice a year.”
Dallas-based Nathan Smith also said he had a wonderful show. “I came last year as a buyer, and I returned this year as a first-time vendor for this show. As a new seller, I felt welcomed by the entire community! The venue provided a perfect backdrop to the wealth of phenomenal vintage holiday available from the wide array of vendors at the show.”
Nate Smith, My Vintage is 1976, Dallas.
Ed Pelton and Nancy McGlamery shared a booth and reported having the best in all three years of doing this show, struck by the quality of items offered throughout. “There was more high end holiday than you might see in the entire year going to other shows,” Pelton said. “People were decisive in their buying. Overall, it was a great experience, and I think Craig McManus should be commended.”
Veteran dealer and fellow showrunner alongside McManus, Mark Langdon enjoyed a full weekend. “Each year the show has been growing not only with dealers but with shoppers and it’s great to see. Saturday was great. We had four wonderful lecturers followed by a lovely cocktail hour and buffet dinner. The chef studied under Wolfgang Puck and the food was out of this world.”
Langdon said he does not specialize in Christmas but sells a little bit of everything, so he did well. “This is a wonderful event and plans are already underway for next year. Same plans as this year: People are welcome to join on Saturday for our Christmas lectures, followed by happy hour and a wonderful buffet dinner Sunday and if you part took in the previous day’s events, you’re entitled to enter the event an hour early for shopping (doors open at 10 am for general public).”
Mark Langdon, Southbury, Conn.
First-time exhibitor Patrick Bobin said the show went well, adding that he has exhibited in many shows across the United States. “I have not been exhibiting for several years due to my career demands in healthcare, but I will sign to exhibit at this show again,” he said. “It was great to see all holiday items exhibited rather than just Christmas on display.”
McManus explained that after attending large holiday antiques shows in the Midwest, he wanted to create something special on the East Coast that was 100-percent antique and vintage holiday items with no other kinds of antiques mixed in. “I wanted to create a weekend event that would give people in this tri-state region, New England and Pennsylvania a destination close to home that would have really great holiday vintage and antique items. I love it when people find that special item that they’ve been looking for, or something that they didn’t know existed, or a piece that just completes a collection. It’s really just a very magical experience.”
Next year, the show will return to the Park Ridge Marriot on April 10-11.
For information, www.ecvcc.org.
