Wright County Swappers Meet Opens in One Month

    I am sitting in my at home office looking out at 15-20 inches of new snow covering the yard and the frozen lake.  I am suffering cabin fever and am ready to be outside wearing something lighter than my hooded parka and mukluks.  It is bright and mostly sunny and the higher angle of the sun is radiating much more heat.  The Twins have a Spring training baseball game on the TV.  There are signs of the Winter breaking here on the tundra.  Then I remembered that the Wright County Swappers Meet is scheduled to begin in one month.

    I retired from selling at Second Hand Rose in Buffalo in December about 5 years ago.  By Springtime after my retirement, I decided that I missed selling my large selection of antiques emphasizing the strange and unusual.  The Wright County Swappers Meet is one of the largest outdoor markets in Minnesota and is located only three miles from my house.  I decided to give the Meet a try.

    I hauled my truck filled with antiques over to the Meet on a Saturday morning to give it a try.  I met a lot of people and sold a few antiques.  Since then I have become a regular, selling almost every Saturday from April through October.  I have learned that I am a bit unique amongst the Meet sellers.  I am not the typical seller, with tube socks, cassette tapes and Chinese tools.  I sell real antiques and unique and strange items, but no tube socks.  I usually know what my item is and often have a history for it.  I have treated my space at the Meet as an antique shop rather than a flea market booth.  I have also indulged my penchant for often selling the heaviest item that isn't a tractor.

    I have attended many auctions in the past 50 years and buying heavy has always been my practice.  Last year at the Meet I had a huge cast iron cauldron which had been converted into a yard planter by placing it is an iron framework that sported an iron school bell above the cauldron.  I estimated its weight in the quarter ton area.  It was part of my "windproof patio furniture" line.  In addition, I had two cast iron wheeled foundry carts that had been converted into yard planters.

    I always have a couple of tables full tools, tiles, crocks and bowls, all from the 1930's or earlier.  I have collected Red Wing crocks and bowls since the beginning and pieces and parts of this collection are regularly appearing on my tables.  There are always clocks, plumbing fixtures, pieces of architectural salvage, fancy windows, barn doors and porch posts.  Some of of my favorites are old paintings, frames and photos.

    Remembering the re-opening of the Wright County Swappers Meet in a month has got me contemplating what kinds of items I will be setting up this Spring.  I have made lists of this and that to have available at the Meet.

Wool striped full bed blanket, 1930's

Foundry cart loaded with cast iron.

Tin game board, 1920's.

Copper plated heater (converted to a lamp)

1920's.

Hand carved and painted Mexican bar, 1950's.

    I am anxiously awaiting the opening of the Meet on Saturday April 1.  I have spent parts of the past few weeks sorting through some of the totes and boxes in my house.  I have dumped the trash and priced the goods.  I will have piles of "new" items to sell at the Meet.

Mr. Flannery