Alameda Antiques Fair!! (May 1, 2011)

Photo borrowed from Katie S's review of the Alameda Faire

We had a blast at this past Sunday May 1st's Alameda Point Antiques Faire! Big thanks to everyone at the fair as well as the fair organizers.  We had a great time and will remember to pack more water and apply more sunscreen next time :)

The faire is getting huge, bursting at the seams every time I've visited. The first time I went was probably in 2006 or 2007. Something I noticed upon going to the fair in 2009 was that suddenly everyone wanted "items for $10."  Nowadays it's all about the "$5 item" because money is tighter than ever, although the lucky few middle and upper class shoppers are scooping up nice finds by the truckload.

Why I originally liked the faire and still do:

• Items sold must be 20 years or older, meaning
• Most items are "vintage" which is cool all by itself, and
• Most items are "made in USA" which supports the "local economy" if you will, and
• Most items are therefore made of HIGHER QUALITY MATERIALS than 99% of what you will find at Target-Walmart-Costco-HomeDepot-99centOnly-DollarTree -- thus the items (some of them) will last much longer due to their "heirloom design", plus
• when you use cash you are cutting out hefty plastic ATM/DEBIT/CREDIT fees and saving yourself money and starving the big tapeworm banks ever so slightly.

You may not care about most of this stuff, but you probably appreciate half of what I wrote. (Which half, I won't know. :)  And there are even more reasons to like the fair now: twice as many food/beverage vendors and even fresh fruit stand now.  (Musicians might be a nice addition, farmers' market style.)  There are more vendors than ever.  There are more people attending than ever, which affords even more people watching. There is a free parking lot shuttle outside the gate. I'm probably missing something so feel free to chime in.

If you've never been, we'd tell you whether we were pedicabbing the event or not, you MUST go at least once or twice in your life. There are different strategies for shopping here, but at least during the non-rainy season, they must include these things:

Bring...

1. Cash money. (There are ATMs, but you will pay a fee. Probably $5 by now.) Few vendors accept plastic payment, though some do. 
2. WATER bottles! Bring at least half a quart of water. There are PLENTY of food and drink options though, now on both sides of the faire.
3. Hat/sunglasses/parasol/sunscreen! It's on a former Navy Base airport runway, so imagine how hot it would be standing about in the sun for the hottest part of a day on a runway tarmac. 
4. Camera! Take photos of yourself enjoying the faire and post 'em up! (Most phone cams suffice.)
5. Backpack or something to carry all the above, plus your "winnings."
6. Optionally, bring 2-way radios, because even with the best carrier (Verizon) you will have difficulty connecting to other cell phone users.

Aside from things to bring, you might choose to dither for hours in the front few rows, or run to the back and start shopping "backwards" from the last almost-mile (3/4 mile) of the fair and work your way back.

Just from side conversations we heard from dealers that customers come from as far away as Sacramento (one hour's drive). However, many dealers are from even further away.

It's a crazy, super fun event you should attend -- we recommend -- at least once per year.  It's fun for all ages and both (many?) sexes... there are man toys, women's fashion, kid's books, bicycles, potato mashers, "bakelite" jewelry, precious metals, manual tools for kitchen and carpentry, plenty of knick knacks and "things to see" for all involved. It's almost like a post-industrial world's faire of the formerly rich and powerful nation that we all label America.