Best of Brimfield

This week was my first time visiting the Brimfield Antique fair. I've been hearing about this magical place for years now, but somehow never made it. For those unfamiliar, it is probably the largest antique fair in the whole country and it happens three times a year in Brimfield, Massachusetts. Vendors from all over the country bring every kind of antique under the sun and the entire town turns into a market! Naturally, that means a whole lot of clothes.

My friend Martha of Gypsy Nation and I headed out at the crack of dawn equipped with granny carts, walking shoes, and unparalleled psychosis for grabbing vintage. We thought we'd have to stay two days to cover the whole fair, but Martha was like a freight train with no brakes and kept us moving so fast that we actually did THE WHOLE TOWN in one day. The heat was unbearable at 95 degrees and I looked like hell; at one point I stood motionless, dazed, in the middle of an outdoor food court trying to locate ice cream... for about ten minutes. I literally thought I'd have to be taken home in an ambulance. However, while I was slurping a root beer float like an exhausted five year old I got a text from Martha with a picture of the dresses I was missing and snapped out of my delirium and started running down the road before someone else got it.

The best moment of the day was when we simultaneously spotted 4 huge racks stuffed with REALLY OLD STUFF. Antique lace, sumptuous silks, and sparkling beads called us like moths to the flame. As we started to ransack the racks, we overheard the booth's owner quoting REALLY good prices and it escalated our vigorous snatching into a nearly violent feeding frenzy- oh the euphoria!! We snatched victory from the hands of a lurking dealer who showed up just a moment too late. She enviously eyed our piles and huffed off with her panama-hat-wearing husband. I am SO excited to post some of these finds this week!

The rest of the day was spent sifting through the mind-numbing amount of treasures to find those special pieces that just don't show up anymore.. and we did. Here's a little teaser of what I found; look for listing trickling into the shop this week and next!