Get prepared for New England’s Largest Flea Market: Lecture at Windsor Historical Society.

 

            Join us at the Windsor Historical Society for an insider’s look at New England’s famous Brimfield Flea Market with author Bob Wyss.  For one week every May, July, and September, a massive outdoor antiques and collectibles show sprawls across more than 20 fields along a one-mile stretch of Route 20 in Brimfield, Massachusetts, down the road from Sturbridge and less than an hour’s drive from Windsor.  The show regularly attracts thousands of dealers, collectors and browsers from around the region and across the country.

 

            In Brimfield Rush: The Thrill of Collecting and the Hunt for the Big Score (Commonwealth Editions, May 2006), author Bob Wyss has written a fascinating, nonfiction behind-the-scenes account of a young couple’s odyssey. Through one year of Brimfield markets, they deal in American paintings and search for the one canvas that, when sold at auction, will turn their fortunes.  Along the way, one learns about the 40-year history of Brimfield, meets memorable characters and collectors of antiques, ephemera and junk, and explores our modern-day fascination with collecting, from Brimfield to eBay.  The title of Wyss’s book comes from the legendary “rush,” or stampede that happens as each field opens in the morning. 

 

            Bob Wyss is a journalism professor at the University of Connecticut.  He was a writer and editor at the Providence Journal for 28 years, covering the environment, energy, and business issues.  He has also contributed award-winning work to publications such as the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Yankee, and Rhode Island Monthly.  Born and raised in California, he is a graduate of California State University Long Beach and Kansas State University.  He lives with his wife in Cranston, Rhode Island. 

 

            Cost for the program is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and students and $4 for WHS members.   Parking is available around Palisado Green and in the Windsor Discovery Center parking lot.  Copies of the book (304 pages, $21.95 hardcover) will be available for purchase and the author is happy to sign them.