This past Saturday was a back-breaking, weed-pulling, lawn-mowing bonanza at the Watts house. By Sunday, I was so done, I was over-done, so I gathered the family, and piled into the Kia to see the Farm Chicks show. This has been on my calendar for months, and it was exactly what I expected it to be, which is a good thing and a bad thing.
This is the hyped show in Spokane. This event is not only advertised all over town, but also in every major country, vintage, and decorating magazine published in this country. The Editor of Country Living magazine was in attendance at the show today, and was signing copies of this month's edition for whatever "fans" a magazine editor might have. I didn't line up to get an autograph, in case you were wondering.
The show itself was chock-full of vintage goodies. It is a very "boutique" atmosphere, as much as an antique show held at a fairground auditorium can be. The vendor booths are so cute with a mega-vintage-country vibe. There are kitschy kitchenware displays alongside the prerequisite quilt booth and rusty garden furniture booth, somehow lit by a cleverly hung mini-crystal chandelier. Tables upon tables, stacked with everything from piles of old American flags to trays of tiny watch faces and antique skeleton keys. There are vendors selling vintage clothes and ladies dainty gloves and hats, but around the next corner is a booth with handmade children's clothes, sewn from 1940's tea towels and tablecloths.
The majority of the peddlers were dressed to match their shops, with lots of cowboy boots and hats paired with vintage aprons and lacy floral dresses. This lady even had her blog-followers take a vote about what she should wear to the show. The whole atmosphere was really straight out of a magazine photo shoot. And loving every minute of it all, was the wave of women, pushing granny grocery carts filled to overflowing with their found treasures. Here and there, I saw a tired looking husband or boyfriend, usually wrangling the children so that Mom could shop. My own family fell neatly into that category.
Now, as impressed as I was by the whole production of it all, it was not my first time at the retro-rodeo. If you know me, you know that I am a crazy (and this is literal) thrift shopper. My husband and children spent many a Sunday afternoon, sunburned and sweating, trolling the endless aisles at the Rosebowl Flea Market in Pasadena. That is, above and beyond, my own personal heaven on earth. My kids know that Goodwill and the Salvation Army are nothing to be ashamed of, and there are not many things in this world that will stop me from pulling over and running inside a newly discovered antique shop. I'm in it for the thrill of the hunt, and the thrill of the DEAL.
Having been to so many events like this one, I knew it would be eye-candy for most people, so much to ogle over. But for me, the hunt for the DEAL was D.O.A. The majority of the shoppers at the show were not the die-hard thrifters that can be found scouring the dusty shelves at the Baptist Thrift Store on a rainy, Wednesday afternoon. Farm Chicks shoppers are ladies with cash bulging out of their purses, snapping photos next to the giant "HOWDY" sign at the front entrance. These are ladies who are not perturbed in the least by plunking down $95 for a rusty wheelbarrow. They love the look of the stuff, but they love it in the boutique display that the vendors had so nicely presented them with. They like to root through a small pile of pre-washed and ironed linens. They want to buy that adorable milk glass lamp with the decoupage shade for the table in their guest room. Second-hand is great, as long as they don't actually have to get their hands dirty.
Do I sound like a Second-hand snob? Well, maybe I am.
Spokane is not short on second-hand shopping opportunities. There are numerous festivals, flea markets, thrift shops, antique shows, yard sales, garage sales, rummage sales...etc...etc. And if you know me, you know that this town is my kind of place. You simply won't catch me paying $25 for a set of salt and pepper shakers, nor would I pay $300 for a table somebody refinished with a couple of coats of Antique White paint. I loved the idea of the show, but the reality was too done-up and far too overpriced for my taste.
And I've trained my kids right too. Shortly after we arrived, Abby spotted a 50's era kitchen chair that, upon closer inspection, looked awfully familiar. Sure enough, it was a chair that I'd wanted to buy (but didn't, because we were living in a hotel room at the time) from a Spokane shop for just $12. When I moved into our house, and returned to the store a second time to buy the chair, it was gone. Eagle-eyed Abigail found it again, this time with a $28 price tag at the Farm Chicks show. After she'd sweetly asked the booth's proprietor about the price, she turned to me and scoffed. She couldn't believe how it had been marked up, but neither of us was surprised when we circled the booth again later, only to find the chair was sold.
"You shoulda' gotten it when you saw it, Mom!" she nudged me and pointed to the empty space where the chair had been. "I can't believe somebody paid that much for it!"
I know, kid. I know. The thrill of the hunt, or at least the instinct to find that bargain may live on for another generation.
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