Monday, May 19, 2008

Brimfield MA - Part 1

Hi Townies, As I mentioned last week, I headed out of town for a mini vacation with my parents. Beeps did not go and stayed home to hold down the fort. My parents are big antique fans as seen in this post, and so it was appropriate that I tag along on their annual trip to Brimfield Massachusetts for their massive antiques show. If you haven't heard of Brimfield, it's this small town that has this crazy antiques show a couple times a year. The spring show is apparently the best one with dealers coming from all over the world to buy and sell their crap goods. M&D told me a lot about this trip, they have been going for like 10 years now, and I was intrigued. I was promised to see taxidermy animals, mummies, weapons and just a mess of crazy hard-to-find items. I was excited to go. M&D picked me up Thursday afternoon and we made the 4+ hour trip up to Brimfield. We arrived a bit too late to see vendors the first day, but we spent the night at a local motel and woke up at 5am to be one of the first in line on the second day.

I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but knew that the event would prove to be a treasure trove of blog images if nothing else. So in the first installment of our trip, I bring you some of the more memorable items. Be sure to click on them to see the blown up pictures. That way you get all the details. Enjoy:

Your eyes do not deceive you. These are indeed stuffed, real chickens. I'm not sure what the purpose is or why someone would buy one. But the market must exist or else this guy wouldn't come back year after year. As I was taking pictures, I overheard the owner talking to another man about the nuances of his stuffed pheasant that was a "champion". I'm wondering at what point in his reign they decided to tell the bird that his life would have to end so that his title would remain forever immortalized.

If you click on the picture. You will see that the bird in the front is being sold for $90! Dear God.

I love this image of the birds in the back of this guy's car. As if they are patiently waiting to go somewhere. And this guy seems to be a Phillies Phan. Oh, the humanity...


I don't really know what this is. I just liked that this mannequin was sitting in what appears to be some type of glass-doored cabinet or phone booth, which were both on the back of a truck. He at first caught my eye as a real person which freaked me out a little. It's still kinda creepy.

Here's my pa being very silly.
This is a giant metal, painted chicken. Why?

This is some type of tin man/ robot thingy. He's holding a basket as if to say that he was somehow connected to Dorthy or the Wizard or something. Believe it or not, he was not there at the end of the day.

If you look in the background you'll see a giant picture of Captain Kangaroo. I forgot how amazing that guy's haircut was.

And I've saved the best for last. I saw this little fella and simply had to take a picture to remind myself that seeing him was not a dream. If you look close, it's a black-face baby with a lamp coming out of his ass. I was blown away. I had to ask the seller where she got it. Her reply "It's been in my family for years. I just think he's so cute." WOW! I'm not sure what's more shocking: that she thinks it's cute or that someone in her family, at one point, actually spent money to buy that.


So that's the summary of day one. Stay tuned for Brimfield Part 2.