59th Annual Spring Fox Valley Antiques Show
March 12th, 2016
St. Charles, Illinois
Imagine a show held for almost 60 successful years and still going strong. Then add show management that rolls its sleeves up and volunteers for years. By the way, said management is not composed of paid professionals but is part of a dealer organization that hosts the show.
Add customers so enamored of the show that this spring over 500 bought tickets in the first hour after opening. Moreover, people manning the ticket table were volunteers from an organization that benefited from the show.
Sounds like a promoter’s fevered dream, right? Nope, it is the Fox Valley Antiques Show in St. Charles, Illinois. Held on March 12 and 13, the event marked the 59th anniversary of the annual spring show. There’s a fall version as well; October 2016 will mark the 42nd annual fall show.
The organization behind the show is the Chicago Suburban Antiques Dealers Association (CSADA). The secret to the show’s not only staying alive but thriving is the dealers’ commitment to always bringing the best and most interesting antiques to each show. Goods are so selective that several sellers told us that items in their booths at this show came straight out of their homes. When pieces are so special that sellers hang on to them for their pleasure for decades, you can count on those antiques to please buyers.
Garfield Farm and Inn Museum volunteers Ann Brack-Johnson (in costume) and Rod Faulkner talk with a visitor about historic sites. The trio was so deep in conversation that we did not interrupt to get the visitor’s name. Brack-Johnson wrote the recently published Angie of Garfield Farm, a fictional story of nine-year-old Angie Garfield, who lives on her family’s farm with an inn, in 1847. Garfield volunteers work at the show and the farm, a circa 1840 living history farm and tavern museum on 375 acres. In turn, CSADA benefits Garfield and other local historical sites.
For decades buyers from the Chicago area and beyond have made the CSADA Fox Valley shows a must because they know they will see a variety of authentic early Americana. We ran into a shopper who made the trip from Nashville to see what was new.
Much of the success of Fox Valley is because it is not a static show. As tastes have evolved and new generations have expressed a shift from items with pure history to those with visual appeal as well, dealers have accommodated by bringing items with broader appeal. We’re thinking of bright antique game boards that are now used as wall accents or antique sewing tools used as accent décor, etc.
The $2250 circa 1880 French clock and barometer set (left and right) was in the booth of Time Gallery, Highland Park, Illinois. They are carved similarly except that one has closed floral or fruit details at the top and open ones at the bottom, while the other has the open ones at the top and closed ones at the bottom. The circa 1880 oversize Black Forest clock (middle) was $2500.
A look at the spring show program demonstrates how CSADA members look on the group as family. Dealers new to the show (there were six from five states) were prominently welcomed, plus a recently deceased seller and former past president, Geoff Higgins, was honored “in memory” at the front. Sellers were touched when his widow came to the show and wished all well, though she did not exhibit this time.
A new seller immediately joined CSADA and pronounced the show “the best-kept secret dealer-wise in the business.” Clearly the dealer appreciated the fact that the show is run by dealers who understand the seller point of view. Dealers do not have to join the organization to exhibit, but nonmembers are limited to one show per year.
Fifty-five dealers set up, which put the building at capacity. An atrium display highlighted the nearby Garfield Farm and Inn Museum, a working 1840s living history farm plus inn on 375 acres. Garfield Farm history and documents were highlighted in the program, and current volunteers worked the show.
Show cochair Donna Finegan (the other cochair is Virginia Larsen) told us she saw “a lot” of big furniture had been purchased, including a highboy and a country cupboard.
“I saw a lot of young faces too,” she added. Entering about an hour or so after the show started on Saturday, we were almost bowled over by visitors exiting with multiple full shopping bags. Crowds did not thin out until an hour or so before the show closed for the day. We also saw a very young visitor carried in a front sling. A new generation of collectors is coming!
The Rock Step Antiques, Spring Green, Wisconsin, brought this circa 1910 large (8'7" x 7'5") Schoolhouse quilt, with borders around each block. It was $4500. The 1860-70 flour bin with old sage-green paint over gray was $825. The 1890-1910 large woven basket was $475. The $275 wooden tombstone on the floor is from an Odd Fellows lodge.
What amazed us was that every single seller we asked told us that he or she had already had a great show, and this was within two to six hours after the show opened! We heard that Sunday was slower, but Finegan, who specializes in late 18th-century to mid-19th-century textiles and smalls, reported that she had several buyers return on Sunday.
A group of young fashionistas spotted her authentic pioneer women’s garb and marveled at the small size of women’s shoes. Finegan noticed their interest and held a mini-tutorial on the spot, pointing out the couture aspects of custom wear and how each dress was bespoke, made for the wearer. The girls were amazed. Who knows? The information may have sparked a new lifetime interest.
Proving that primitives are always in demand, Carriage House Americana, Blue Mound, Illinois, had this circa 1750 large plate-drying rack with hand-forged iron hangers. The rails go through a center board, and the paint on the $695 piece is the original Windsor green. Few nails were used in assembly. Seller Greg Thiele told us, “The size makes you think it was used in an inn or tavern.”
We were fascinated by the inlay on the top of a Victorian table from an Odd Fellows lodge. The work was quality and well done. Tom Armitage, who gathers “only the unusual” old Odd Fellows artifacts, had a number of interesting pieces. Matter of fact, several sellers brought Odd Fellows items, more than we’ve seen at one show for some time. The table, tagged $1495, sold to the trade during setup.
The moment reminded us of why buyers so enjoy the show. That kind of friendliness and willingness to impart information and to share expertise goes a long way to building rapport.
Not to get all mushy, but with all the meeting and greeting happening, it seemed to us that the Fox Valley show is very much like an anticipated reunion. We even overheard a pair of out-of-state sellers invite a regular customer to visit them at home.
The Fall Fox Valley Antiques Show will return on October 15 and 16. The theme will be “Holiday Collecting through the Years.” For more information, go to (www.csada.com).
Sellers Greg and Sonja Rich of Decatur, Alabama, found a great way to display candlesticks—simply insert new battery-operated candles with flickering, moving “flames!” Greg told us his wife spotted them on a home-shopping TV network. The late 19th-century hutch table with original blue paint at the base was $1650; the burl bowl with handles, $3600; and the sack-back Windsor chair with original paint was $3200.
This handsome copper sheep with marvelous patina and detail is from James and Joanne Lowery of Baldwinsville, New York. It is from an American weathervane from the first half of the 20th century. At 20" high x 30" long, the piece, still with some original gilding, was priced at $15,000. It sits atop a $3600 paint-decorated Pennsylvania blanket chest from 1825-30.
Suzanne Baker of Westville, Indiana, had a pair of simple cemetery stands without bases, in the shape of an eagle, for the graves of vets or soldiers. From the 1950s-60s, the wire forms were $69 each. The sampler done by a 14-year-old girl was $495.
Originally published in the May 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest
