Crowds were already busy perusing the offerings of several outdoor dealers at Frontier Town Gateway just after the general admission start time of 9 am.
Review & Onsite Photos by Kiersten Busch
NORTH HUDSON, N.Y. — If you’ve ever been to the Brimfield Antiuqe Flea Markets— America’s oldest outdoor antiques flea market, which takes place in Brimfield, Mass., tri-annually — then you may be familiar with the name Klia Ververidis Crisafulli, who runs the show now located on the Hertan’s field. Usually adorned in a festive top hat and riding in her chariot of choice, a golf cart, Crisafulli is the CEO, senior auctioneer and “Ringmaster” of Brimfield Antique Shows. Now, she can add “showrunner of the newest Brimfield traveling show” to her already overflowing resume. Brimfield Adirondacks had its inaugural debut July 25-27, and Crisafulli was excited to spread the Brimfield love to the North Hudson area.
“We were invited to do this show by Hay Fields Antiques, who wanted to do a Brimfield traveling show like the one we have in Deerfield, N.H. [Brimfield North],” Crisafulli shared when we caught her just after the general admission crowd arrived at 9 am on opening day, July 25. “We’ll see how everything goes! It takes time to work out the kinks with a new show.” She continued, “I’m always open to trying new locations! It’s like having a little slice of Brimfield at these shows. If you like it, then you can come down to Brimfield, Mass., for the big event.”
In some ways, the show really did feel like a slice of Brimfield, with its sprawling venue, beautiful views and packed roadways and parking lots, where hundreds of enthusiastic buyers were milling about, getting carts and wagons ready for a day of shopping. Crisafulli even did her traditional opening ceremony at the early bird gate, which took place at 7 am. “We had a good, healthy buying crowd at early bird, and it’s been steady ever since,” Crisafulli happily reported.
Crowds were picking up near midday at Hay Fields Flea Market.
The show was split between two venues, Frontier Town Gateway, which had both indoor and outdoor space, and Hay Fields Antiques, a more traditional Brimfield-esque space, with dealers and artisans in tents outdoors. The two locations were only a short walk away from one another, up a hill and across the road, with a shuttle service running from noon every day. “With the dual venue,” Crisafulli explained, “we have dealers inside and outside. There are about 25 inside and five outside at Frontier Town, and about 100 up the road at Hay Fields. It’s been fun watching people going back and forth between the venues since this morning!”
Antiques and The Arts Weekly began the morning inside of Frontier Town Gateway and made our first stop in the booth of Aimee Olcese, who owns Violets and May Collectibles, based in New York State. Even her attire was on theme, as she donned a violet-colored shirt to match her business name. “I have a cabin up here, so I’m close by,” she shared, as part of the reasoning for giving the new show a try. Olcese offered a vast array of antiques and collectibles, including French pottery from Paris. She was particularly enthusiastic about showing us a few plates featuring a fork and knife design from a collaboration between Parisian pottery company Astier de Villatte and decoupage artist John Derien. During our talk, a customer came up to purchase a Steiff bear and a book, which they negotiated a bundle deal for. Also, as we left, Olcese was in the process of selling some textiles to a couple who had made their way back to her booth after thinking about the purchase.
A selection of Parisian pottery in the booth of Aimee Olcese, including pieces by Astier de Villatte in collaboration with John Derien (bottom right corner). Violets and May Collectibles, New York.
Across the way from Olcese, stationed directly in the middle of the main level, was Adirondack Fragrance Farm, owned by Yen Maine and her husband, Clarke. “We own a 100-acre farm in the Adirondack Forest, where we harvest all sorts of things from our fields for our natural soaps, perfumes and candles,” shared Clarke, as his wife helped a barrage of customers flocking to their booth. “My mother founded the business in 1979, and we bought it two years ago. We usually don’t do antique shows, but since this show is new, we figured we’d give it a shot.” It was certainly a gamble well paid off, as Clarke reported good foot traffic, and a lot of interest in their products, especially their Balsam & Cedar soy wax candles and their milkweed roller perfume. “We harvest the flowers for our perfume on-site,” he explained, “they’re 100-percent natural and it takes us six months to make.” This reporter can assure you, they certainly smelled good!
Directly behind the Maines was Pangea, manned by Ren, a Massachusetts resident who informed us that the business just opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Savannah, Ga., this past spring. “The owners are down in Savannah, but I live in Massachusetts. I grew up going to Brimfield, and when I saw a Facebook ad about this show, I knew we had to give it a try,” he shared with us. Pangea specializes in unique jewelry and crafts from across the globe, but many of the items available at the show were from the continent of Asia. “We mostly travel and collect things,” Ren added. “I also make some jewelry myself. We’ve been working with a lot of the same vendors for years.” He pointed out a row of small metal figures, which he explained were made in the image of the Hindu goddess Devi Kanya Kumari, which were his favorite items in the booth. “These were made in Nepal. You can tell that each statue is used for different ceremonies depending on what she’s holding in her hands. I learned about her on my trip to Nepal; I actually just got back not that long ago.” The booth also contained textiles from various Asian countries, as well as a plethora of gold jewelry.
The cross-cultural display of Pangea, which just opened its very first brick-and-mortar store in Savannah, Ga., this past spring.
Moving on to the left, we ran into Jerry Farrell, a 55-year veteran in the antiquing business who goes by the name Mad Man Antiques; he was selling a combination of sourced items and his own original artwork. “I’ve got fish decoys, folk art and of course, tools from the 1600s and 1700s. I’m the leading ancient tool guy in New York State,” he shared. Farrell, who is based in Sydney Center, N.Y., brought around five or six of his original art pieces: antique jugs decorated with smalls Farrell has collected over the years. “I use epoxy putty to secure everything, so it stays forever,” he explained. “I embed the objects one by one. It takes about 10 days.”
Emily Rossi-Snook of Schroon Lake, N.Y., was using the inaugural Brimfield Adirondacks show as a test run, to see if people in the antiquing world would be interested in her vast collection of vintage movie posters. “I’m not a dealer,” she began, as she stood up to tell us why she’d decided to come to the show. “My family owned the only two movie theaters in Schroon Lake [N.Y.] and also ran other theaters in the area. These are the posters from those theaters, which I inherited. They’re all authentic, and they tell the history of the American movie business. I still live in Schroon Lake, and I need to unload some of them! I thought this might be the right venue. It’s been fun!” Many of the posters Rossi-Snook had on offer spanned the decades between World Wars and were priced anywhere between $25 and $600. She proudly showed off a few posters designed by Saul Bass — who created the memorable poster for 1961’s West Side Story — including one for Exodus (1960) priced at $175. A poster for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) featuring “the final iconic scene” was her highest priced work, at $600. Rossi-Snook also offered an array of lobby cards, with vivid colors still intact, despite being over 90 years old.
Emily Rossi-Snook of Schroon Lake, N.Y., brought a plethora of authentic vintage movie posters she inherited from her family, who owned and operated several movie theaters in the surrounding area; they were priced $25-$600.
Heading out of Frontier Town Gateway’s main dealer hall, through the gift shop and dining area and out on to the front lawn, we were greeted by a large porcelain “Goodyear Truck & Auto Service” sign laid carefully out in front of a white trailer. Said sign and well-decorated trailer belonged to Matt Wood, who, with his wife Krista, is Fill-Er-Up. A longtime picker at Brimfield, Wood explained that he decided to come to the show because they live close by in Brant Lake, N.Y., and love the main event in Massachusetts. “We specialize in signs and advertisement,” said Wood. When asked how he got into the business, he replied, “I’ve always collected advertisement, then I got into gas pumps. I bought this business 14 years ago.” Wood was also offering round porcelain gas signage from distributors such as Mobil, Essex, White Rose Gasoline, Sinclair, Gulf and Sky Chief, as well as a tin sign for Uniroyal Tires. Of course, we had to ask about the Goodyear sign. “It’s 27 feet long, and it’s rare to find the sign with the ‘Truck & Auto Service’ part. It was exciting to find the complete set,” Wood shared.
As midday quickly approached and the sun began to rise higher in the sky, Antiques and The Arts Weekly joined the long stream of shoppers making the trek up Blue Ridge Road to Hay Fields Flea Market, where more than 100 dealers were stationed for the day. A bit reminiscent of a fairground, Hay Fields had a few food trucks and stands selling kettle corn, apple cider slushes, maple coated almonds, powered donuts and other fair foods to satisfy shoppers’ appetites while they perused the seemingly endless rows of tents.
This pair of painted twig chairs were made by Rick Pratt, co-owner of Around the Bend, Worcester, Ohio, as was the rest of the furniture in the booth, including the framed mirror in the back, Pratt’s favorite piece.
Right through the main gate and past the food trucks was Around the Bend, owned by Rick and Denise Pratt. “We came up with the name based on the phrase, ‘there’s always something good around the bend,’” Denise shared happily from her spot in the shade. The Worcester, Ohio-based couple specializes in twig furniture, all of which is handmade by Rick. “My wife introduced it to me when we were married, and I taught myself how to build it,” explained Rick. “I’ve been doing it now for 45 years.” After a bit of encouragement, Rick finally decided on his favorite pieces in the booth: a pair of red-painted chairs, a porch swing and a few coffee tables. He was also extremely fond of a framed mirror hanging on the wall inside of their colorfully decorated tent; it was made of multicolored twig pieces of varying lengths.
Traveling deep into Hay Fields’ expansive venue, we stumbled upon the booth of Leilani Sprague, who happily reported, “I’m selling out! I’m going to have to go home for more soon.” Sprague, who is Miner’s Past, had sold all of her pedal cars on offer and almost all her smalls and stainless-steel jewelry. “We haven’t had a physical location since Covid, so this was a last-minute decision for me to come out here. It was certainly worth it!” Sprague has been a realtor for 41 years, and also owns Country Road Realty in Moriah Center, N.Y.
Leilani Sprague (left) had a large crowd form to ask about her advertising signs, priced at $8 each; “I’m selling out!” she told us as we approached her booth. Miner’s Past, Moriah Center, N.Y.
“Honestly, through my realty job, that’s how I’ve acquired most of this stuff,” she explained. She then rushed off to tend to an ever-increasing crowd that had formed right outside the entrance to her booth, where her small tin plate advertisements were hanging. As we walked away, Sprague was in the process of selling at least two signs, which she priced at $8 each.
“This has been a family-run business for 85 years, I’m the fourth owner,” said John De Giacomo of Chatsworth IV Antiques when we asked him about his business. Originally based in New Rochelle, N.Y., De Giacomo now also had a booth at Mongers Market in Bridgeport, Conn., and shows at Brimfield three times a year. “I’m really good friends with Klia, so coming out here to do this show is like a ‘workcation’ for me,” he shared. De Giacomo specializes in pretty much everything, but prefers Midcentury furniture, collectibles and glasswork, all of which he had on offer. “I already sold my best piece,” he explained. “It was a four-foot-tall, almost barrel-sized antique European crock jug. I’ve never seen one that size. I had to help the buyer carry it out of here.”
Coming out of the woods and nearing the main gate was the booth of Julian Spaccarelli, a young man from New York who had only just started making his own bags, hats and military surplus gear this past January. Sitting behind a vintage Singer Treadle sewing machine, Spaccarelli explained that he makes everything with the machine, which he purchased on Facebook Marketplace. “It’s been decent for a Friday. I’ve already broken even on the booth spot, which is a good start.” Spaccarelli heard about the show through the Brimfield grapevine and said he has previously showed at Hertan’s.
The vintage Singer Treadle sewing machine that Julian Spaccarelli uses to hand-make all of his military surplus ware, bags and hats. New York State.
After the show’s conclusion, Crisafulli shared, “We had over 4,000 people through the gates at the Adirondacks. Saturday was the busiest day. Friday was busy, too, and Sunday we had a little rain in the morning, so we didn’t get going until around noon, but it turned out pretty good once the sun came out!”
However, the most burning question on our minds was, will the show return? Crisafulli can happily confirm, “We will definitely be back, the last weekend of July in 2026!” For information, www.brimfieldliveonline.com or brimfieldlive@gmail.com.
