They call it the Antiques Capital of the Country. But if you love antiques collectibles, and other charming old "junque," you might want to shorten that and just call it heaven.
From Adamstown to Kutztown, along routes 222 and 272 in Pennsylvania, there are dozens of antiques shops, malls and co-ops, each housing from one to several hundred dealers.
And then there are the extravaganzas.
Three times a year -- spring, summer and fall -- what feels like the entire antiques world converges at four sites along this picturesque stretch southwest and northeast of Reading in east-central Pennsylvania. There are hundreds and hundreds of dealers spread out over fields and endless parking lots. It's as if every object in the universe must, at some point, pass through the myriad booths and tents, across the tables and crates, of the sellers here. The next extravaganza weekend is two weeks away, Sept. 22-25.
"It's incredible, the amount of antiques in this country, and the number of people who make a living out of it," says an enthusiastic Greg Huntington, of Plainfield, N.J., who's been on the collecting trail for about two hours at Renninger's Antiques Extravaganza in a field at Kutztown. "Sometimes you get overloaded, you burn out a little bit. There's too much to see," Mr. Huntington says.
At first sight, until your eyes get trained to pick out the things that interest you, it does seem a bewildering array of stuff: matchbooks, snowshoes, Bakelite bracelets, gloves, '40s fabrics, cap guns, Staffordshire pottery, silver flatware, stuffed animals, glass doorknobs -- it's all here. Quilts, carousel horses, samovars and spirit kettles, Oriental rugs, highboys and lowboys, Victorian silver thimble holders, ship models and musical instruments -- if you covet it, if you collect it, you'll find it here.
And maybe, with all the competition, at a price you can afford.
"You could go to an auction and sit there for five hours for one thing, and then somebody bids it sky-high," says Ed Stoudt, of Stoudt's Black Angus Antiques Mall, Adamstown. But with so many dealers in one place -- there are 200 to 350 dealers at the Black Angus every weekend -- "if anybody's a collector, it doesn't take long to find things." It doesn't take long to find a lot of things. "We get a lot of decorators from New York and Washington," he says, buying in bulk for restaurants, bars and other need-a-touch-of-nostalgia spaces.
"And if you feel something's too expensive, you can dicker -- or there may be a half-dozen people with the same thing," Mr. Stoudt says.
Mr. Stoudt, who started out in the early '70s with a half-dozen dealers in the basement of his restaurant, estimates that today there are 1,000 to 2,000 dealers in the area on a regular weekend, and as many as 4,000 to 5,000 for an extravaganza weekend.
Punch bowls, meat grinders, '50s end tables, Hoosier cabinets and Victorian sideboards, magazine racks, sparkling clear glassware with little glass loop-de-loops around the perimeter, railroad lanterns, vintage records and games . . . This bounty of beguiling objects has been available since 1962 at Shupp's Grove, said to be the oldest of the outdoor markets. Every weekend from April to October, dealers set up their wares under the trees. The grove had fallen on hard times and was down to 28 dealers when Marilyn and Carl Gehman bought it three years ago; now it's on the way back.
"We're real excited," Ms. Gehman says. "A lot of people are coming back after being away for 10 or 12 years." The Gehmans make an effort to keep quality of merchandise high. "No flea-market items," Ms. Gehman says. "It has to be antiques, art and collectibles."
Some dealers save their best items for extravaganza weekends, she says, and most take pains to produce a beautiful display.
A model steam engine, a 1903 movie projector, bait cans, Coke bottles, croquet sets, old dental tools . . . Is your mind boggled yet? And at Renninger's, you can even pick up some freshly picked corn or a couple of one-gallon perennials.
"We were originally farmer's markets," says Jim Renninger Jr. of Renninger's. "Then we got into the antiques business."
Renninger's No. 1 opened in 1960, and Renninger's at Kutztown in '74. "In 1975 we began the extravaganza," Mr. Renninger says. "We wanted to get something going during our slow period, in summer."
The Renninger Extravaganza in Kutztown is open the last weekend in April, June and September. Renninger's No. 1 in Adamstown is open every Sunday. Stoudt's Black Angus Antiques Mall in Adamstown is also open every Sunday, and Shupp's Grove in Adamstown is open every weekend from April through October.
It's thus possible, on an extravaganza weekend, to hit Renninger's at Kutztown on Thursday (said to be the big day, when all the "best stuff" is out, though admission is $40 a car, as opposed to $2 a person Friday and Saturday), to be at Shupp's Grove Friday, to return to Kutztown Saturday, and to shop Stoudt's and Renninger's No. 1 on Sunday. If you can stand it.
You could start with nothing and outfit yourself with costume, home and occupation for any era you might choose. Want to live in the 1790s? The 1870s? The Roaring '20s? Back to the Future? What we have here is low-tech virtual reality.
(And should you happen, as I did, to go with a less-than-enthralled male type, who by Sunday is beginning to whine, don't miss the Black Angus. It has a beer garden with beers from its own brewery.)
"I look forward to this all year," says Helen Taylor, of Schuylkill Haven, Pa., clutching a white-painted stool she found at the Kutztown extravaganza. She's also picked up a Navajo rug. Her friend, Dolly Smith of Orwigsburg, Pa., hasn't found anything yet.
"She'll go home with something," Ms. Taylor says. "I wasn't looking for a stool, but I'm going home with it."
For dealers, the extravaganzas offer a huge pool of antiques hunters -- as many as 25,000 to 35,000 people, Mr. Renninger estimates -- who come from just about every state east of the Mississippi and some from west of it.
The April extravaganza is usually the best, says Maxine Taylor, who's helping her son Don Rich, whose business in Stroudsburg, Pa., is called Just Plane Crazy, with the antique woodworking tools he is selling. Heat, humidity and occasional showers have marred this session, in late June, but Ms. Taylor and Mr. Rich say business has been good. The weather in September is usually spectacular, they say.
The pair have high praise for the Renninger family, saying the Renninger Antiques Extravaganza, despite its giant proportions, is efficient, well-run, and safe as a bank vault. "If I wanted to," Mr. Rich says, waving a hand around his well-stocked booth, "I could just cover this up and go home. And no one would touch it."
"We try to keep our places as secure as possible," Mr. Renninger says. There are "undercover" security agents constantly walking around the sites, and there's a guard at night. "Plus the dealers kind of watch out for each other."
Part of the reason for the security may be that the sites are home for the duration of the show for many dealers. Marylanders Patricia McCarthy, of Perryville, and Maxine Patterson, of Havre de Grace, were just getting ready to fix lunch at their stand at Kutztown.
"You have to camp out," Ms. Patterson says. "Everybody does. )) We came in that truck," she says, gesturing at the mid-size panel truck behind her from which they have pulled tables and the reproduction wicker, Depression glass, doorstops and other items they are selling. The truck is a backdrop and an awning support. It's surrounded by similar vehicles and booths in various degrees of elaborateness. "It's not going anywhere," Ms. Patterson says, with a laugh. "It's our bedroom and our den. And this" -- she points to the table in front of her -- "is our kitchen. Would you like a sandwich?"
Nearby, Jeffrey Lipman of Red Barn Antiques of New Egypt, N.J., has an even larger truck, from which he has taken furniture, tables and glass cases. "I've been doing the extravaganza, oh, no less than 20 years," says the genial former cranberry grower. "I can't remember not doing it."
When the dealers gather, Mr. Renninger says, "It's kind of like a big family reunion. It's not a big competitive thing, like you might expect. There are people from all walks of life. You run into people who are very, very rich and people who are just trying to sell something so they can eat the next day."
Beaded tassels, old police badges, transfer-ware from Staffordshire and Spode, Tiffany lamps and Stieff silver, bathing beauty calendars from 1931, old books, old records, old keys, Depression glass . . . You can fall in love with something you'd never heard of, view and price 50 examples in one or two days, and go home an expert.
And be pretty sure you got what you paid for. Mr. Stoudt says misrepresentation of any kind at the Black Angus is punishable by expulsion -- with a waiting list of 70 to 80 dealers, he has no trouble filling a vacated stall.
Button hooks, Bibles, Big Wheels, bottle caps, oil paintings and paint-by-numbers, vintage ties, fishing rods and flies, '70s platform sandals . . . It's been days, and still object after object cries out for notice, the humble and the exalted, the vulgar and the chic, the lovely and the woebegone. At some point, you will find your heart's desire, even if you didn't know before what it was.
L "Did you see this little sewing machine?" asks my companion.
"Is it a Featherweight?" I drop what I am looking at and race to his side.
Yes, it is, a tiny, tough, reliable, portable electric sewing machine made by the Singer company. This one was made in 1951 and bears a plaque identifying it as a Centennial model, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the sewing machine company. With it are every accessory imaginable, including a buttonhole attachment and extra needles, all designed to fit neatly into the ,, little carrying box.
It is in mint condition. It is priced right. It is mine.
For information about antique-hunting in Lancaster County (Adamstown), call the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau, (800) PA-DUTCH, Ext. 2405. For information about Berks County (Kutztown), call the Reading and Berks County Visitors' Bureau, (215) 375-4085.