If You Can't Find it at the Antique Faire, It Probably Doesn't Exist

After perfect summer weather on Saturday for the parade, it was a drag to wake up to dreary gray on my favorite morning after: The Annual .

With 4th and Kentucky Streets from B Street to Washington Street closed off to car traffic, bargain hunting pedestrians hit the streets to check out some 180 booths. Some even arrived before dawn with flashlights.

Artist Jack Haye said he was feeling uninspired, when normally he's the one dragging off boatloads of creative bits and pieces. Maybe he went to the same beer garden I did yesterday. 

While I concentrated my search on cheap mid-century costume jewelry, I passed up some killer clear Lucite bubble chairs, a pair of white leather roller skates and - count 'em - two life-sized crawling children mannequins at two different booths. 

Julie and L.J. Callan weaved through the crowd in dark sunglasses carrying matching Starbucks coffee cups. The Petaluma couple were on a mission.

"It's my birthday weekend, so I'm hoping we find something that could be my present," said Julie who had her eye on a particular Maxfield Parish framed print. "We went to a Skip Domingos auction yesterday, but no luck. We're still looking."

played his red pie-ano trying to warm up the crowd. It was the first time I noticed that he has a small horizontal mirror at eye level above the keys - the better to see who's coming up behind him.

Debbie and Rick Dearing drove down from Windsor for the fair. She's a serious collector always on the look out for vintage pottery and crockery and had only found one thing when we met. But try as I might, I just couldn't visualize it. (And I've been to the 600-mile yard sale in Tennessee and Kentucky - twice - so I've pretty much seen everything.)

"It's an old fashioned crock style water cooler catch cup," Debbie said of her find. "It goes under the spigot and if there's a little drip it catches the liquid. You have to empty it," she explained, holding up the oddest little bit of a thing with a light blue sponge dappled edge.

"I have another one, but I don't have one with this blue," she said, sounding every bit a collector.

The booths offered everything from re-purposed linens to antique typewriters, a zillion salt and pepper shakers, modern but old looking French home decor, new and vintage jewelry, barware, fishing and hunting equipment, cowboy boots, billiard balls, boxes of keys, gramophones, spice racks, to architectural signage, over-sized letters, silver egg cups, washboards, and industrial crates.

What I like about this fair is that it has everything you would expect plus the oddest collections of the kitchen junk drawer variety. It's where you find tiny plastic phone key-chains, rabbit foot charms and old toys. If I wanted to, I could have brought home a shopping bag full of medals for spelling bees, sports competition and military service.

On the way out I stopped to visit Chris Low, who by day is the director of facilities and life support systems at the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco. On his own time at home in Petaluma, Chris is a fantastic artist, crafting small meditations comprised of old books, cans, frames, tin and plastic toys. 

I first noticed his work at Christmastime when he had a small show at in the Lynch Jewelry Building.

His booth looked like a mad scientist had flung open the door to his laboratory.

"I like to just get my stuff out there and let people see what I'm doing. Although sometimes I do wonder if they don't buy a piece just to pull a bit off and use it for something else," he joked.

This year was the 25th anniversary of the Spring Antique Faire. The Fall Antique Faire will be held on Sept. 25 at the same location.