Antiquing in Minnesota

We just drove 7 1/2 hours to Oronoco, Minnesota this last weekend to go to Gold Rush Days. Hundreds of dealers from throughout the region fill over a thousand booths located throughout the community.  We did Oronoco on Friday and Rochester Gold Rush on Saturday.  The fairgrounds (52 acres) in Rochester, Minnesota was the same wonderful thing.  Oronoco was all outside but Rochester most of it was in all the fairground buildings. It was heaven to me!  My husband and I had so much fun.  We split up and used our phones to send photos back and forth that we thought the other one was interested in. Then we would meet up in the shade and trade stories.  You need really comfortable shoes, sunscreen, a hat (for Oronoco) and cash. A lot of them will take checks but very few took credit cards. We drove through Iowa and enjoyed the rolling hills of corn fields.

I took photos of things that made me smile. There were so many unusual things.  You see a little bit of everything!  Next week I will share photos of the treasures that I bought.

Very patriotic slippers

Remember these phones?

Barbie size metal kitchen. Price was $68.50.

Kid size stage coach

Lawn furniture made from signs



A plant stand made up of ax handles, a saw blade, a chain and a shovel blade.

Do you remember this? Its a Show and Tell Phono Viewer that was priced at $ 185.00.

I have never seen one of these and I saw three this last weekend.  This one was priced at $595.00.

I probably saw at least twenty five spool cabinets.  This one was the biggest one. 

This one was priced at $895.00.

This one was priced at $2258.00.

The food vendors do a great job too. One vendor has been making home-made ice cream sandwiches for about 30 years. They are so popular that customers will buy them in bulk and stockpile them in their freezers! I managed to eat two of these. I wanted to try the fried cheese curds but never got around to it.

You can stay away from antique stores all year and just hit these two shows and see everything at once.  I felt the prices were good too.  There is so much competition between booths that they price things reasonable.  The fun part is the haggling to get a better deal.

We are so excited that we have a brand new website. 

My daughter Ashley and I  have been working on it for awhile with my daughter doing 90% of the work. To celebrate this big occasion make a comment about the last antique or flea market find you bought for a chance to win a pattern of your choice.