Where Nothing is Ordinary

Mar 1, 2016 | People

[title subtitle=”words: Marla Cantrell
Images: courtesy Tammy Edwards”][/title]

You may not know it yet, but you might really need the blades from a once-whirling windmill. Hang them above your mantle and you’re sure to get compliments. Don’t have a mantle? Then maybe you’re in the mood for jewelry. How do cow tag earrings sound? Yep. Earrings made from vintage cow tags used by ranchers and farmers to keep track of their herds.

 

Tammy Edwards has seen both of these things at the NW Arkansas Vintage Market Days. She, along with her daughter, Megan Enlow, run the show that comes to the Benton County Fairgrounds in Bentonville, Arkansas, twice a year, in the spring and fall.

 

Once she even bought an old barn door at the market, one she plans to put in her house someday. As she talks about these finds, the words come quickly. She has always loved shopping, and talking about it makes her happy. Which makes her job even better. The 110 hand-selected vendors, from places like New Mexico, Kentucky, and Tennessee, will show up on April eighth and stay through the tenth, bringing their treasures with them.

 

Tammy loves seeing what they have to offer: furniture, old trunks, handcrafted jewelry, original art, antiques, architectural salvage items, home décor, food, seasonal plantings and cute clothes. “If you’ve ever been to the Canton Flea Market or the Round Top Flea Market in Texas, we’re a lot like that,” Tammy says. “Just a little smaller.”

 

AVMD_ABPHOTOCO20151010_0-(16)fter the vendors set up, all 40,000 square feet inside the livestock barn at the fairgrounds will be filled to the brim, and sellers will re-stock each day. Additional vendors will have booths outside. While customers browse, live music from the groups Telegram Nation, and Woody and Sunshine, will entertain shoppers. Food trucks, including Trick Dilly, Mike’s BBQ, Baller Food Truck, Mama’s Sweet Tea, Wok Hei Noodle House, and a few more selling baked goods and sweet treats, will be on site. “You could stop, have lunch, and then get right back to shopping,” Tammy says.

 

“It’s really so much fun. We’ve been doing this since 2014, and many of the vendors have become like family. We have one vendor from New Mexico who comes in with these massive lights and old trunks and giant windmills. His booth is something. He could have been a major designer in someplace like New York City, but he loves Vintage Market Days.

 

“I think patrons love it because you never know what you’re going to find. A lot of people will find things like the perfect table or an entry door, and so we have a loading zone for picking up big items. It all works really well.”

 

As she looks forward to April’s market, she thinks about those hours just before the doors open to the public. “There’s not one thing that’s ordinary,” Tammy says, “and it’s wonderful just to get to see it.”

 

DSC_8124After customers arrive, she enjoys hearing their laughter, and watching them when they find something that’s perfect. “It’s so much fun, some people come all three days. You only have to pay one time, whichever day you show up, and that’s a big plus, so if you come on Friday, you can come back on Saturday and Sunday for free.”

 

Tammy says the serious shoppers are usually there on Friday when the doors open at eleven. “We have lines forming by ten o’clock.”

 

To make the process easier, you can buy your ticket online, which speeds up the process once you arrive. If crowds bother you, Tammy says you might want to wait until later in the afternoon. And if you have a little one, using a carrier instead of a stroller is a good idea, since you’ll be maneuvering in tight spaces.

 

All these things will make your experience at NW Arkansas Vintage Market Days even better. And if you need one more reason to go, consider this. A portion of the profits go to Saving Grace NWA, a non-profit that helps young women from seventeen to twenty-five years of age, who have aged out of foster care, or group facilities, and need a place to call home.

 

Shopping, good deeds, live music, and food trucks. All in one place. Sounds like a good way to spend an afternoon, or if you’re like some of Tammy’s customers, an entire weekend. You might come home with a treasure you’ll cherish forever.

 

 

NW Arkansas Vintage Market Days
Benton County Fairgrounds
7640 Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard, Bentonville

Friday, April 8
Early Buying Event, 11:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday, April 9Sunday, April 10
9:00am – 5:00pm12:00pm – 4:00pm

3-day pass, $10Kids under 12, free.
1-day pass, $5Cash only at the gate.

Ticket valid for re-entry all weekend.

To purchase advance tickets,
visit NWArkansas.VintageMarketDays.com.

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Do South Magazine

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