ROUND TOP Antique Week {Fall 09} Countdown: Jan from Hot Tamale Antiques
THREE WEEKS AND COUNTING
till Round Top Antique Week…
Whenever I visit Marburger Farm during Round Top Antique Week I never pass up the opportunity visit with Jan Orr-Harter from Hot Tamale Antiques. Based in Aledo, TX, Jan exhibits at Marburger Farm Antique Show every year in Tent Ab4.
In the three tours I’ve taken of Jan’s set up I am most impressed by how her look always changes. There are many vendors that you can visit and year after year their style is the same. While it’s nice to know what to expect, sometimes it’s fun to be surprised… Hot Tamale Antiques always surprises me!! One thing you can count on is quality vintage folk art, furniture, textiles and Americana charm.
Cactus: When was the first time you attended Round Top Antique Week as a shopper and/or as a dealer??
Jan: I first attended Texas Antiques Week in the fall of 1997, driving down from New York City as an exhibitor. Now I live in Texas.
Cactus: How do you prepare for Round Top??
Jan: These days I prepare for each Marburger Farm show by interviewing ten or more Marburger dealers from all over the nation about their show plans and put these comments into a new notebook. As the Staff Writer for the show, I then write up a press release or two that can be read at www.roundtop-marburger.com.
Then… I review all the interview comments and study the results from my own last Marburger sale to determine what I need to try to find for the show— colors? neutrals? furniture? art? jewelry? smalls? under $100? over $300?
Then I start shopping, usually on long road trips—I just returned from 6200 miles, covering 12 states in 23 days, with my nine year old daughter. I do only a little shopping in Texas.
As I buy, I record each item in the notebook–does it need cleaning or any minor work? What do I need to charge for it? I list the colorful items in one section and the whites and more neutral colors in another section. I try to maintain my buying focus on the lessons that I gleaned to begin with. It’s a discipline, sometimes I stray! And sometimes, hopefully, I get lucky and find something amazing. This is the commonality among all the dealers at Marburger Farm: we are all motivated to find something utterly amazing.
Back at home, I study the notebook, and devise possible booth layouts and themes. I try to stay focused on getting the priority pieces cleaned, ready and loaded. Virtually everything has to be cleaned! Today I have to wash 3 cupboards from Minnesota and Kansas. I am a working mom, so it’s always a challenge to achieve liftoff. But when I do finally arrive, I’m ready to set up, with a good sense of how my inventory will all work together. And even with all this preparation….I’m just barely ready when the early buyers arrive on Tuesday morning.
Cactus: What is your advice to shoppers??
Jan: Come to have fun, as well as to shop. Unlike other antiques markets in the US, Texas Antiques Week has parties, great food and good music. If you are here early, go to the Saturday night Sept. 26 party at “Leftovers”on Hwy 290 in Brenham. And have dinner one night on the square in Fayetteville and shop the show on the town square–they stay open late every night.
Cactus: What is the one thing first timers should NOT miss at Round Top Antique Week??
Jan: Opening Day Early Buying at Marburger Farm Antique Show, Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 10 am. For lunch in the show’s cafe, try the new “Mar-burger” with all the fixin’s. Can’t wait!!! Thanks, Jan…
** Click HERE for more from Jan & Hot Tamale Antiques **
** Click HERE for the Rest of the Round Top Countdown **
** Click HERE to Read **
our Round Top Antique Week GUIDE
{SUBSCRIBE} HERE to have the CactusCreekDaily.com BLOG delivered straight to your E-Mailbox!!
