Destination Brimfield

by Helen Hill

My first Brimfield experience was just about 20 years ago. I had taken a space on J & J’s old North field and was about to go for the gold. The weather was really beginning to feel like spring, so I was hardly prepared for a cold front and the icy drizzle that began before dawn that May morning.
I sat huddled in my tent wrapped in a U-haul blanket and shivered in silence before a head poked in from the back of the tent. The trim, wiry woman with the big smile ended up being my neighbor, Helen Gunther from Oneida, New York (who is still in touch after all these years). Since we weren’t supposed to set up before 6 a.m., she invited me next door for a cup of coffee.
The camp stove was fired up, bacon was frying and the coffee smelled better than any Java I had savored in years. She handed me a steaming cup and without even asking, added a shot of whiskey. Goodness, I thought! These antique dealers are an odd lot, what with drinking first thing in the morning and all.
It was the best set-up I can ever remember. I worked fast, I had a new friend and fire in my belly. In those days, the business seemed to come more quickly and was weighted closer to opening time. By noon, I had done almost $6,000 and the crowd had thinned enough so that I could sit down in my lawn chair and reflect on the two days to come.
The cold and rainy weather continued and it was pretty miserable. I found myself wishing over and over that I could close up the tent like many people around me, and just go out to a shop or a restaurant, but I hardly knew where to go. Brimfield is like that, folks. It’s either too hot or too cold or too wet or too windy, and we’re all crazy enough to be there in the first place.
Actually, in retrospect, I think there is plenty to do in this part of the world when the weather gets too bad to tramp across the fields. After all, nobody is going anywhere. We can get in the car, check out the shops in the surrounding towns, and shop the fields of Brimfield tomorrow.

Shopping for antiques
There are a dozen or so group shops between Brimfield, Sturbridge, and Palmer, as well as a good number in Northern Connecticut. You all know about Brimfield’s shops, having passed them dozens of time on the main road, so let’s go further afield.
The Quaboag Valley Antique Center, (413) 283-3091, on Knox Street in Palmer is a good start. This shop has an interesting mix of antiques, bric-a-brac, furniture, and collectibles. It’s the kind of place that has something for everyone. While you’re there, don’t miss the vintage Day and Night Diner on Main Street. It’s open every day except Sunday for breakfast and lunch.
You might also check out the Sturbridge shops in the opposite direction on Route 20. They are too numerous to mention here, but most are advertised within the pages of this Journal. Sturbridge is a destination for antique lovers any time of the year and the home of Old Sturbridge Village (800) 733-1830, a living history museum www.osv.org.
From Sturbridge, you can drive southeast to Southbridge and take Route 169 south to Woodstock and Putnam. Here you can find the Antiques Marketplace, (860) 928-0442, for a nice selection of furniture and smalls, or Heidi Howard’s shop, (860) 974-3979, for handcrafted floor cloths, custom signs, and folk art. Also try driving east on Route 44 from Putnam to Chepachet, Rhode Island for a nice selection of shops. This is beautiful countryside, rain or shine, and doesn’t tend to be overrun with tourists this time of year.
Another terrific route is in Deerfield (exit 24 off Route 91 north). It’s takes about an hour and twenty minutes to get there from Brimfield. Along Routes 5/10 you will find a dozen or so shops. Just past the entrance to Historic Deerfield is my favorite, 5 & 10 Antique Gallery, (413) 773-3620, with its sister shop right next door. I always find something to buy at these shops.
While there, the Deerfield Inn is a great place to have either lunch or dinner and you can take in a few house tours at Historic Deerfield, (413) 775-7214. If your time is limited, I might suggest a visit to the Flynt Center. The museum’s attic has thousands of artifacts on permanent display that will leave you speechless (for a change) www.historic-deerfield.org.

Cultural opportunities
Tired of shopping? Perhaps you might want to take a drive to Hartford to see the Wadsworth Atheneum, (860) 278-2670. This museum is strong on decorative arts and is a good destination for lovers of art and antiques. For complete directions, visit their website at www.wadsworthatheneum.org. Anther fine stop in Hartford is the Mark Twain house.
A drive to nearby Worcester offers a myriad of cultural opportunities. The Worcester Art Museum, (508) 799-4406, is one of the best small museums in the country that has a concentration on European and American painting and decorative arts. It retains the second largest collection of Paul Revere silver in America and has interesting exhibits of ancient Greek, Roman, Asian, Pre-Columbian, and Near East art and artifacts. Check them out in advance at www.worcesterart.org. If arms and armor are your passion, I would also suggest a trip to the Higgins Armory Museum, (508) 853-6015, with its spectacular collection of Medieval and Renaissance armor displayed amid stone arches and colorful heraldic banners. The web address is www.higgins.org.
Worcester’s American Antiquarian Society is a national research library of American history and culture and is another spot that deserves your attention. Their collections encompass more than 3,000,000 printed items including books, newspapers, and thousands of graphic images such as portraits, political cartoons, photographs, maps and paintings. Their manuscript collections are justly famous for the diaries, family letters, business records and other documents. Tours are offered only on Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. The Worcester Historical Museum at 30 Elm Street collects, preserves, researches, and interprets Worcester’s history in all time periods.

Dining out
Dining can present a problem after being on the field all day because we don’t always look like we belong in an upscale dining room. If you are like me, you might resemble a boiled lobster or at least some of the terrain you’ve tramped across. If this is the case, and casual is what you want, I can suggest a number of restaurants.
Some excellent Italian food can be found right in the heart of the flea market on Route 20 at Francesco’s, which also has antiques dealers set up in the parking lot to help you pass the time while you’re waiting for a table. If you’re going to be out and about, how about Rom’s Restaurant on Route 131 for more Italian American fare, or Kahula’s Chinese restaurant just a little further down the road?
There’s always Piccadilly Pub or George’s Pizza on Main Street in Sturbridge and a real treat is the old-fashioned Fender’s Drive-in Restaurant about 20 minutes south of Brimfield in Holland, Massachusetts. Commercial options include the host of McDonald’s, Applebee’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Pizzaria Uno, and other choices that dot Route 20 in Sturbridge and Palmer.
For special occasion dining in Sturbridge, I suggest Cedar Street Restaurant, Public House, the Whistling Swan (and upstairs of the Swan is the Ugly Duckling, a more casual setting and less pricey menu), or the Tavern at Old Sturbridge Village. There is also the Salem Cross Inn in West Brookfield for traditional old New England favorites. Rovezzi’s on Main Street in Sturbridge is relatively new and is a stylish place for a drink with friends followed by Italian nouvelle cuisine. Reservations are suggested for any of these special occasion restaurants.

Brimfield Survival Guide
At the beginning of this piece, I talked of icy conditions and wasn’t kidding. As a matter of fact, you never know what the weather will be like. Expect rain, snow, sleet, high winds, tremendous heat, mud up to your ankles, and dust all over your body. And all of the above could happen in the same week. Pack accordingly! You need rain gear including galoshes or rubber boots, and extra socks. You need a sun hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, and a pair of shorts for mid-day, but you also need a warm jacket, long pants, and gloves for early morning.
Don’t forget bottled water, comfortable shoes, a flashlight for examining early morning purchases, plenty of cash (many dealers don’t take credit cards), and a couple of sturdy tote bags. Your cell phone may or may not work, depending on the field and the way the wind is blowing, so be prepared.
I would suggest that you always arrive early to avoid parking problems and heavy traffic. The later in the day you wait, the worse it gets. But the rewards of finding that elusive treasure make it all worth it. Remember, you have over 5,000 dealers to choose from and a range of merchandise that is truly staggering!

Getting there and staying there
Brimfield is located on Route 20 and has no exit on the Massachusetts Turnpike. You need to get off the Pike at Sturbridge if coming from the east or at Palmer if approaching from the west. The trip can almost always mean traffic jams. Alternatively, you can approach Brimfield from the south via Route 19 north from Stafford Springs, or north from exit 74, on Route 84, through Holland. This road comes out near Brimfield center.
You can also drive south on Route 67 to Route 19 from the Brookfields and Warren. Route 19 intersects with Brimfield just to one side of Sturtevant’s field. Go to www.brimfieldexchange.com and download their handy map for a better look.
Hotel reservations are often a nightmare unless made almost a year in advance. There are dozens of motels, B & Bs, and hotels in the Sturbridge area and they can be found listed at www.brimfield.com. The list is comprehensive and you might get lucky with a cancellation even at the last minute. When in trouble, try Springfield or Worcester. Each is just about an hour’s drive from Brimfield.
For further information and research, two websites are particularly useful www.brimfield.com and www.brimfieldexchange.com Between the two of them, you can find a complete listing of accommodations, descriptions of each of the 23 fields that collectively offer over 5,000 dealers, a complete show schedule, some dealer names and contacts, helpful maps of the area, and lists of restaurants and their contact information. You might find further information at the Sturbridge Chamber of Commerce www.sturbridge.org.