Twice each year for 42 years now, there have been antiques shows in this tiny village in the Brazos hills, halfway between Houston and Austin, and just a few hours drive from Dallas. The events were inspired by Ima Hogg of Houston, a patron of the arts and fine style, who at that time enjoyed weekends in the area. It was a bit cooler and less humid than the city, but there was not enough to do. She encouraged a friend to run the first show in Carmine at the dance hall, with Rifle Hall in Round Top opening very soon thereafter.
Quickly others jumped on the bandwagon with more shows or open antiques markets similar to those conducted three times a year in Brimfield, Mass. Now the Round Top events are twice each year, ending on the first Saturday of October and April.
More fields and shows than ever could be imagined †more than 40, perhaps as many as 60 †stretch along Texas Route 237, a narrow, two-lane country road with a 60 mph speed limit. For the two weeks of shows, that speed is reduced by the traffic to a crawl.
The shows line more than ten miles of the road, dealers and shoppers fill the parking lots and the shopping is nonstop.
Dealers and decorators come here to fill their warehouses with inventory for the months ahead. At Ex-Cess, one of the many fields, exhibitors from New Jersey, Iowa, California and elsewhere fill barns without walls with all styles of antiques and décor pieces. Mark Dooley from Mount Royal, N.J., was offering recycled industrial lighting and whooping cranes in plaster. Sean Davis, New Sharon, Iowa, filled his space with Nineteenth Century furniture. An Atlanta, Ga., dealer was showing a collection of Italian home furnishings.
Texas Rose Show is a weeklong affair in a large building and tent for about 40 dealers. Cole’s Antique Show started September 24 and ran for ten days with an antiques center and outside dealers.
In a crossroads called LaBahia, there are fields that run into one another and the dance hall, which hosted a score of exhibitors. Boundaries are not clearly defined; one show often seems to flow into another.
The selling began on Saturday, September 19, with the first arrivals at Blue Hills in Round Top and Oldenburg, another of the little towns. By the following Saturday, dealers were filling the fields and customers were filling their trucks and vans.
The two-week shopping spree continued with the big openings Tuesday, September 29, of Marburger Farm Antiques Show and Rifle Hall Antiques Show and on Wednesday, it was time for the Original Round Top Antiques Show. These three shows all closed Saturday afternoon, October 3, bringing the shopping and selling to a close.
Round Top repeats itself again in the spring of 2010. End date is April 3, but markets start about two weeks ahead of that. There is no single contact phone number or website, so check the advertisements for show information or visit the Round Top Chamber of Commerce website, www.roundtop.org .
