Visitors walk to the back of the field where they are greeted with three dealer tents at the opening night cocktail party.
Review and Photos by Greg Smith
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. – The grounds of Mulford Farm made for fertile hunting July 16-18 when about 40 dealers spread throughout the farmstead at the East Hampton Antiques and Design Show. Three large tents and an outbuilding housed a range of dealers who brought everything from traditional and decorative antiques to art, garden ornaments, jewelry, accessories and collectibles.
This year’s event was chaired by interior designer Marshall Watson, an environment creator known for his elegance.
“History runs deep in our community,” Watson said. “The East Hampton Historical Society celebrates our past, engages our minds, and helps us to reinvigorate our stewardship responsibilities for future generations to come. As a vital community looking to the future, it is imperative that we acknowledge, respect, restore, preserve and learn from our past.”
The show, now in its 15th year and managed by Brian Ferguson, serves as a benefit for the East Hampton Historical Society. The organization said more than 1,500 people came through the gates during the three-day run and its opening night cocktail party was sold out.
Colette Donovan, Merrimacport, Mass., styled this wall with nature. A set of herbariums with hand stitched foliage from the mid-Nineteenth Century can be seen along the back. The swan in front was once in the collection of the Refuge Waterfowl Museum on Chincoteague Island, which closed in 2013. Donovan believed the swan dated to the 1940s.
A few legacy dealers shied away from the event this year, though their spots were an easy fill, Ferguson said. Dealers are currently experiencing a great boon at in-person antiques shows, no doubt fueled by a public eager to take part in society once more.
On the sold-out opening night, Ferguson said, “It’s heartening.”
Opening night saw attendance from Mike Clifford, Sasha Bikoff, Richard, Debbie & Henry Druker, Frank Newbold, James Blauvelt, Tom Samet, David Netto, Kate Kelly Smith, James Nolan, Pamela Jaccarino, Sean Sullivan, Charlotte Moss, Anthony Baratta, East Hampton town supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc and Marilyn Van Scoyoc, Dianne Benson and Lys Marigold, Andrea Schumacher, Dan Scotti, Lisa and Cary Kravet.
The show plans to be back in July of 2022. For information, www.easthamptonhistory.org.
