New England Motel was the place to be early on Wednesday morning, providing shoppers opportunities to buy before other fields opened up that day.
Review & Onsite Photos by Madelia Hickman Ring, Will Demers & Carly Timpson
BRIMFIELD, MASS. — By all accounts, Brimfield 2024 was a year of contrasts. Many days during the May edition were plagued by soaking rains while shoppers and vendors in the July markets sweltered under scorching suns. To close out the year, near-perfect weather smiled down on the thousands who descended on the mile-long stretch of Massachusetts Route 20.
Dealer’s Choice
Pleasant weather and plentiful dealers brought savvy shoppers to Dealer’s Choice field on September 3, with the field opening at 11 am on the first day of the week-long festivities taking place elsewhere in Brimfield. In fact, Dan from Dantiques, Indiana, Penn., said it was a “top ten day” as far as the weather went, and that’s saying something, because he has been coming to Brimfield for 40 years.
Reflecting current market trends, the field was flooded with newer dealers who specialized in vintage clothing. Justin Steinke of Solid.Goods.Vintage and BarbaryBradleyObjects, Englewood, Ohio, noted that “clothing, especially 50s workwear is hot right now.” Though he commented, “I just do what I love, I don’t do trends” — a sentiment many veteran dealers and collectors alike can relate to.
Under one tent, Justin Steinke of Englewood, Ohio, promoted his partner’s business, BarbaryBradleyObjects, which sells material objects, antiques and folk art, as well as his own vintage clothing business, Solid.Goods.Vintage. Both could be found at Dealer’s Choice or on Instagram.
Many jewelry and clothing art dealers were housed beneath the field’s large rear pavilion, a welcome reprieve for shoppers as those booths were sheltered from the sun beating down on shoppers in the afternoon. Other merchandise to be had under the pavilion included Asian art, paintings, vintage cameras, coins and other small collectibles.
New England Motel
“The field has never looked better,” observed Richard A. LaVigne, the visual architect behind Galleries at Knollwood, which had a dynamic looking presentation in one of the three permanent pavilions in the center of New England Motel. The field, which opened its doors at 6 am on Wednesday, September 4, had several new vendors who brought a carefully curated selection of antique and vintage fine and decorative art with decorator-appeal. Among these was Jaime Roche, owner of Knock on Wood from Norwalk, Conn. She had showed at neighboring Black Swan Meadow for years but it was her first time at ‘The Motel.” Her large booth in the center of the field was distinguished by plank flooring that was covered with rugs. Not only did the flooring physically elevate her offerings of custom-designed contemporary furniture from the dew-soaked field, but it gave her booth a finished look. A pair of fuzzy chairs and a black painted coffee table were among her early sales.
Long a center for antiques, Hudson, N.Y., has, in the past few years, become a go-to destination for vintage furniture dealers and interior decorators. Hudson showroom Modern Exchange has been participating at New England Motel for several years and is one of the vendors who gives the field a decidedly vintage design feel. Hannah Khachadourian counts many A-list designers and hotel groups among her clients but likes the competition she feels from other vendors of similar furnishings. Her booth would best be described as an eclectic blend of antique and vintage furniture that combines both European and American styles. She and her team participate in just two shows annually: Brimfield and Round Top.
Nicole Alund, left, and Kara Curtin, right, came from Hudson, N.Y., to help The Modern Exchange owner Hannah Khachadourian, center. —New England Motel
Contemporary custom crafts have come to have a strong presence at New England Motel. The field included Lisa Bodzinski, who is a home herbalist, medium and henna artist who started showing at Brimfield in July 2023, so she has now had a full year under her belt.
Heart-O-The-Mart
Orleans, Mass., fine art dealer Kevin Rita, who was showing at Brimfield for the first time since 2020, used the opportunity to exhibit more than a dozen works by Tim Nicols (1931-2010), a Boston painter and MFA School teacher as well as Yale-educated lawyer, whose estate Rita is handling. Nichols’ work was influenced by Abstract Expressionism, but because he had an aversion to commercial promotion, he was never given recognition during his lifetime. Rita hopes to change that, and was asking $1,200 for each 46½ by 52 inch canvas. He was sharing space with fellow Orleans fine art dealer, Bill Wiebel.
At Heart-O-The-Mart, these large nearly-square abstract compositions were painted by Boston artist Tim Nichols, whose estate Kevin Rita is handling. He was asking $1,200 for each and said he had a few good conversations at the show. Orleans, Mass.
It has been just a month since we saw Gene Pratt out in full force at the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers’ Association (NHADA) show in Manchester, N.H. He said he’d had a great show in New Hampshire and brought a different, but equally diverse selection to Brimfield, including stoneware and redware, a wooden running horse weathervane, primitive furniture and signs. Other NHADA show dealers at Heart-O-The-Mart were Sandy Jacobs and Drew Epstein (Swampscott, Mass.,) Bruce Emond and Village Braider (Plymouth, Mass.), DeWolfe & Wood Rare Books (Alfred, Maine) and Period To Mod/Brennan & Mouilleseaux Antiques & Design (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.).
May’s Antique Market
Weather — every show manager prays for its good behavior on opening day, dealers plan for contingencies to counter its bad side and show-goers seem to be indifferent to it. May’s Antique Market marked the beginning of its 48th season of operating in all kinds of meteorological conditions on September 5, with halcyon skies and comfortable temperatures as gates opened at 9 am to an energetic crowd of shoppers. “It was very good. Things went very well,” said a tired but pleased Martha May after the show closed. “There was an uptick on Friday and Saturday compared to two years ago. Every Friday and Saturday, it seems more and more people come. All I can say is that it was successful, and the dealers did well. There is a younger crowd coming in to sign up with us.”
The rush onto the field at May’s Antique Market is droll. Many shoppers sprint to the back of the field, only to work their way back slowly to the front. Experienced hunters, however, know precisely where to go to find their favorite dealer.
When asked if there was too much vintage clothing on the field, May responded, “I think it’s 50-50 as far as the vintage dealers go. We have younger dealers coming in with very good traditional merchandise, too.” May pointed to Heather Lalonde, owner of New England Old World Antiquities (NEOWA), based in the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts, who was selling early oak and period antiques furniture.
“I do have a cluster of younger people in the back of the field that are not selling vintage. I think I have five of them. They’re out of the Philadelphia area, as well as Brooklyn and New Jersey. They tend to do a lot of shows together and they come in with some really great stuff — not middle of the road; they’ve got a good eye, they work really hard.”
Antiques and The Arts Weekly inquired if there were any changes planned for next year’s market, to which May replied, “I’m just praying for good weather on opening day.”
The 2025 Brimfield Antique Flea Markets will take place May 13-18, July 8-13 and September 2-7. For information, www.brimfieldantiquefleamarket.com.
