Warrenton

To find fine dealers in Warrenton select the area on the left.

Changing of the guard

Next Show:

March 24 - April 4, 2010

While with this edition Show Daily adds notch number 19 on the pole, it is barely a drop in the bucket compared to the forty-plus years that Antiques Week has endured and grown since its inaugural presentation in October 1967.

In fact, it was only a three-day show with a mere handful (twenty-two in all) of dealers in the Rifle Hall at Round Top. It was the matriarch, Emma Lee Turney, who started it all. Since then, it has arguably evolved into the biggest and best antiques fair in America, and possibly the world. I don't think I need to give it any more hype than that.

Very few names, and less documentation, could be found that would allow us a peek into that era. So... at the end of this memo to yall, we will entice you to send copies or originals of letters, photos, gate passes, advertising or any items or stories linked to that memorable event.

Show Daily was first launched in the fall of 2000 as a guide, a map and littered with many local and event news. We are also a chronology for Antiques Weeks growth.

For many of the long time dealers, an impending passing of the old guard is in the air. Emma Lee, whom I've known about for at least the last 15 years but just recently had the pleasure to be near and close to, is indeed a very wise cookie, a tireless dynamo, and both generous and kind with the people who approach her. I would award her an honorary degree in human-eering.

A couple of years ago she passed on the baton of the Original Round Top Antiques Fair to an equally industrious couple, Susan and Bo Franks. They too have undiminished organizational skills and have done much to advance the shows continuing success.

The Impact of Growth

Sustainable environmental and economic growth is not just a geopolitical catch-phrase going around right now. It is an issue that will impact us all, negatively, if we continue to expand unabated and without considering the implications.

Its mind-boggling how a sleepy farmland community can instantly transform itself into a mega antiques emporium with thousands of dealers and vendors of every disciple and hundreds of thousands of antiques crazed buyers in a matter of days. And it is remarkable how so well self-policed the events are. Everything functioning so smoothly with no single major governing body, with 60-plus shows and dates to deal with, and all in just two short weeks. Mind-boggling, to say the least.

We pray the new blood pouring into our ever-growing show community comes with the spirit of friendly convergence, a willingness to make it a project for the long haul, to preserve it, grow it and sustain it economically and environmentally. I hate to bring up the port-a-potty issue, the sewage dilemma, the lack of public services, the water, the parking, the traffic-- I could go on. For those who have invested millions as the new couriers of the baton, I'll bet youre way ahead of me already. Listen to what the dealers and buyers have to say about Antiques Week in general, and about individual area venues too.

A request for participation

As many may know, the Show Daily and its untiring staff have been doing unheard of acrobatics to please our readers and advertisers alike. Suzy Kirchberg does somersaults, stands on her eyelashes, and stays up all night to please customers and meet deadlines. I mention only her for now because, as promised, I am begging you for a much greater participation in producing this publication. After all, the Show Daily is your Show Daily. Its the tool that ties us all together.

Suzy turns down very few requests for a mention or a story idea. So please, keep sending in more! Of particular interest is the folklore and legends of Antiques Weeks early years. But gossip, hear-say, funny tales, spicy, tartly, folksy stories are always welcome too.

Don't forget to visit the Show Daily web site constantly, and watch for our web blog (coming soon!). Let's all pitch in to make Antiques Week the best antiques show in the world for many more years to come.