Brimfield in July

Brimfield. The Big Flea as some call it... I went once, I think in high school and I swore never again. Too big, too expensive... no fun. But then all of a sudden it got really popular in blog land... Which is funny to me because I grew up so close... How could something so close to my little old home town be worthy of an Olsen twin making the journey from NYC? Totes cray cray, right?
So, for the past year or so I thought maybe I should give it a second chance... Even though I knoww that vendors pretty much double their normal prices and there's a whole slew of corporate chain store gremlins roaming around trying to grab everything before you do. But, it's so close to my mum and dad - and it's a huge flea market - why wouldn't I want to go?



Alice shares the same "to Brimfield, or not to Brimfield?" views as me ... but I somehow convinced her with good 'ol fashioned enthusiasm (I think I was also trying to convince myself a little too...) and we promised we'd act casual about this. We'd get there early but we weren't trying to be up with the sun and we weren't going to get stressed if our dream objects were sold to someone else from right under our nose. Whatever is whatever ... just go, check it out - no biggie.



The night before as I was planning our attack (what fields were a must to visit, where to park..) my parents suggested we take their Radio Flyer wagon. Which was a savior - and I am pretty sure that I need to bring a wagon to all flea markets from here on out. No more tired shoulders! And we sort of managed to beat the heat delirium with an ice cold cooler full of snacks and drinks.



We spent about 7 hours walking around. And even ran into Jeff! We covered a lot of ground, but it's just impossible to do it all in one day (which is why it's 6 days long)





To be honest - I wasn't really wow'd by too much. A lot of the vendors had more of a 'dirt merchant' vibe rather than 'collector and seller of the most beautiful objects' ... But, I think it's just the time of the year. No one wants to deal with the heat and humidity that is July and I think all the vendors pull out the good stuff for the May/September shows when there's way more people who come out.



There was one booth that I spent too much time in, and of course I found a few nice things to take home...

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .


Sadly I totally ruined that quilt when cleaning it - so instead of selling it on etsy I'm going to tuck it away and save it for the next time I'm in New England and want to go on a warm weather adventure.

I'm heading back to San Francisco on Thursday night with my parents and Westley in tow and I have a whole lot of things to do before then. Lots of things for the etsy shop need to be cleaned and fixed up - so I best be off to take care of business!