More Tennesse State Fairgounds Fleamarket/ Fleamarkets in general, Nashville, Union Shaker Village

Flea markets are interesting places. They vary from your average antique show. Most antique shows are just antique shows. Flea markets can be abit of everything. You name it you can almost always find it at a flea market. Flea market are actually one of my favorite places to shop for antiques. Often, you find people who look like they have emptied out some basement or barn were it looks like their merchandise has been stored from the light of day for 30 years.

The Tennessee show we just went to was no exception. The above picture was one of those kind of booths. Although it was actual cleaner than most booths I like to paw through.

This booth keep changing all three days of the show. They would sell stuff and just kept bring more. The coolest thing I liked about this picture was the great rusty Indian motorcycle in the middle of the picture.

One of our many discoveries at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds was this great booth of outsider art by a woman by the name of T.R. White. We did decided that we loved her style so much that we decided to purchase a small canvas which is now hanging in our home.
The key to shopping any flea market is to get there early and don't be scare to dig. I find every flea market a grand adventure.

However, all of our discoveries were not just to be found at the fairgrounds. We spent one night visiting downtown Nashville.

There are lots of great old historic buildings.

Lots of nods to the thriving country music scene.

As well as one of our favorite Blues artists. The night life is truly something to be experienced with lots of great music and great food.

However, our favorite discovery was a visit we made on the way home to the South Union Shaker colony museum in Kentucky. We have both loved and studied the Shakers for years and both have visited a number of shaker museums.

There was a tranquil spiritual feeling to this place that we both felt and were deeply moved by.

There was a peacefulness we experienced as well as we walked through the buildings that had survived. The museum also houses one of the largest collections of shaker furniture made at South Union in North American

The simple philosophy of form following function was present everywhere.

After we walked through the buildings we walked down a lane on the westerly portion of the community and talked and reflected about our own lives and the show we had just participated in. It was a wonderful way to end our trip to the Nashville, Tennessee State Fair ground show.

Live is short. It is meant to be lived and experienced. Perhaps that is the best gift we can give those around us, to live our lives well. We certainly felt our weekend in Tennessee was well lived and time well spent.

Nashville

We got back from the show in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday. Spent the day yesterday unloading and getting product back into the malls here in Grand Rapids. There is so much news to bring back from our trip that we hardly now were to begin. So we will start with a brief blog this morning and add more this week as we get time.

This was the first time we did this show. It is a very large flea market located on the fairgrounds in Nashville. We loved meeting the people and feasting our eyes on all the many sights and sounds. We can not say enough good about the gracious hospitality of Tennessee folk. People are so warm and friendly in this part of the country. We felt well received and also managed to pick up some really wonderful product. The mannequin in the above picture of our booth at the show we picked up from someone that walked it into our booth the opening day of the show. She is a real beauty.

We sold small items as well as large furniture. Small industrial items such as wire baskets and small metal storage containers completely sold out. Ephemera packets of small vintage items that CJ had assembled were very popular.

This show and the people we meet really won our hearts. However, whenever we do a new show like this we set a minimum financial goal that we have to meet in order to continue to do the show and we are sad to say that we did not meet our goal. So at this point we have decided to not do this show again. We are hoping that some of the people we meet will stay in touch with us and we hope that maybe we have given some of them a good excuse to come north and pay us a visit.

As we get time this week we will also post more pictures and thoughts about some of the people we meet, downtown Nashville, flea markets in general, and a surprise visit on the way home to South Union Shaker village.

Tennessee State Fairgrounds

This has been such a busy week we have almost forgotten to blog before leaving town. This weekend we will not be at Allegan. We have decided instead to do a show in Nashville, Tennesse at the State Fairgrounds. If this turns out to be successful we will most likely do it all winter. The show begins this Friday and runs thru Sunday. As we get time we will post again this weekend and hopefully have more pictures.

St. Joe

We had such a great time and great sales at last Sundays antique show, The Bluffs in St. Joe. We met so many wonderful new people and some familiar faces from other show that we do too.

We felt like our product mix was well received. It was a crowd into re purposed, upcycled antique and vintage items.

So we are back "at it" this week increasing our inventory and getting ready for our next show the end of the month in Nashville, Tenn.

In the mean time I am cleaning the house and making an apple crisp because we are being blessed with a visit today from my girlfriend, who now lives in Arizona and her Mom. I have know Mary for all of my life, as long and I remember being on this earth there was Mary. I can't wait to see her and her Mom!

It's a CELEBRATION!

The Bluff's in St. Joseph, Michigan

We are doing The Bluff's Antique show tomorrow in St. Joseph , Michigan. This is a new show for us. The weather promises to be perfect. The show is in a park in downtown St.Joseph that overlooks Lake Michigan. We thought this would be a great way to spend a Labor day weekend sunday.

We are taking alittle bit of everything, Some furniture, industrial, some garden,ephemera, plus some halloween items that CJ has been working on so if you are in the area stop by and say hi. We are hoping to make some new friends and meet a few old ones.