Everything Is New Again at the Sacramento Antique Faire

Sacramento Antique Faire
W St & 21st St (under Highway 50)
Sacramento, CA
(916) 600-9770
Every second Saturday of the month
6:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.
www.sacantiquefaire.com

As their website proclaims, time spent at the Sacramento Antique Faire is "part adventure, part history lesson and part treasure hunt." The best advice is to make sure you arrive early, bring single dollar bills and something to transport your newfound riches home in. However, if you don't have, say a wagon, it's a safe bet you can buy one from one of the Faire's over 300 vendors.

Every month new sellers join established ones and offer a variety of vintage and collectible articles, 20 years or older, for dressing the house, the body or reliving some cherished memories.

What are you looking for? Let's start in the dining room.

Perhaps it is calling for a rug under the table or new table that has already seen people seated around it. See Don Rowden in stall F-5 where he sells oak furniture perfect for the entire house. An antique table calls for fine European or American crafted porcelain, silverware and delicate glassware. September McWatters in booth M-8 can help supply unique tableware. While stall F-8's John Favors is another source. A majority of his merchandise comes from the numerous Bay area estate sales regularly.

Moving to the kitchen where a new look can be had by a simple change of the hardware on cabinet doors and drawers. John Queirolo in F-3 is the man known for having some of the best in architectural hardware.

Outside living spaces require beautification too aside from just plants and flowers. Items found with Jeff Wibberley at L-5 are guaranteed to make garden gnomes giggle with glee.

Do you require a gift for your cousin Eunice who adores Toby jugs? Maybe a badly-aimed Frisbee kinked up for your Uncle Ed's patio wicker chair. Strolling through the stands and you just might find any of all of these to make that perfect gift.

Speaking of fit, the Sacramento Antique Faire also has vendors who specialize in vintage clothing. Take the opportunity to dress like a "Mad Men" maven of the 1960s or find a snood and an authentic bombardier jacket from the World War II era. If you find 19th century high-buttoned shoes, the chances of finding the hook to close them is located nearby.

Wish you had a more distinguished lineage? Search through thousands of antique paintings to find portraits of more interesting new ancestors.

Textiles and linens are much sought after items and span the decades in their availability. Should the odd occasion occur and you cannot find exactly what you are looking for the Faire's vendors are always happy to be on the lookout for what you desire.

Do not fret if your late great aunt Tilly, a first class hoarder, left all her earthly treasures to you. For a fee you too can become a vendor. Bring out that "Chico and the Man" lunchbox, the pile of 1950s Bobbsey Twin books and the dusty moose head. Your eyes might see them as a horror, but to someone else they shine as bright treasures.

Spend several hours at the Faire. There is plenty of food and drink available to further fuel your exploration.

Linda J. Bottjer is a full-time writer who has been the recipient of the "treasures" of others. Follow her at www.words4sail.com.