Every spring and fall, two tiny neighboring Texas towns, Warrenton & Round Top, play host to one of the largest antiques events in the country. Tents go up, hall doors are flung open and truckloads of antiques converge on the area roughly halfway between Austin and Houston.
When I first read about the show, probably 15 years ago, I was the buyer and merchandiser for a then-unique group of home furnishings stores focused mainly on decorating second homes – ranches, lodges, mountain homes, lake houses, and farm cottages. I can still remember my heart beating fast at the photos and descriptions of the offerings, from flea market fair to fine antiques: signs, folk art, light fixtures, architectural pieces, crafts, glass, toys, and more.
Since then, the antiques pilgrimage I make twice a year, along with thousands of others, is one of my very favorite things to do. My heart still beats faster at the thought of the treasures I’ll see – even if I can’t afford them – and the joy I feel at the collective creativity of the dealers and their merchandise.There are no formal opening or closing dates – every show or hall or field has its own. It isn’t just one show; it’s dozens, spread throughout several small towns (and I mean small). When I’m there, I often wonder what they look like when the dealers pack up and leave. Much of the area was founded by early German settlers, in towns with names such as Oldenburg and Schulenburg and Rutersville and Nechanitz. I’m always charmed to encounter, for instance, the people who work at the Round Top Mercantile speaking with German accents.
When I first began going to the show, we bought for multiple stores and took big trucks and several people, so we rented a place called Phil’s Farm. The Phil’s, as it was called, was owned by two former University of Texas fraternity brothers (both named Phil) and their families. (It was at The Phil’s when I first discovered the joy of an outdoor shower – nirvana in the heat of a Texas summer!) It was one of the many idyllic farmhouses scattered across the countryside, and driving through the area I often pull over to take in the details one picturesque spread after another.
After I struck out in a business of my own, I stumbled through a series of B&B’s (Bed and Breakfast) until I found the place I now stay each show, the Oldenburg Sunday Haus. The story goes that in the 19th century people traveled long distances to neighboring towns to attend church on Sunday, which was usually not a trip they were able to make in a day, so friends and neighbors would offer their “Sunday Haus” – the modern day equivalent of a guest house. (Although in Texas we refer to ours as a “backhouse.”) B&B’s run the gamut of set-ups, from a house with bedrooms that you rent with community bathrooms to a group of individual cottages. The Oldenburg Sunday Haus has bedrooms with private bathrooms as well as a Sunday Haus in the back. Their common link is that they provide breakfast with your lodging. Many have gotten creative with their offerings, from antique houses brought in and reassembled, to Airstreams with landscaped “patios.”
The drive is about 3.5 hours for me, but people come from all over the country. My routine is to head down on Wednesday to Warrenton, which is the first part of the show to open, although dealers continue to open through the weekend. So I spend Thursday and Friday wandering in and out of tents and halls up and down that stretch of Highway 237. There are a couple of shows also opening during that time that require driving, so I make sure to hit those, too. The event itself has become so popular that prices have become almost too expensive for me to buy for the store, but I love the experience and the inspiration and ideas I get while I’m there. This most recent show was really heavy on what I call “industrial chic” – lots of zinc-topped tables (antique as well as newly-made-to-look-old) and metal furniture and decor; every gold starburst mirror I saw had a “sold” tag on it and has become the staple in the past few years – all things French remain hot hot, whether fine antique or French shabby.
It’s always fun to see friends who not only shop, but the dealers who have become friends over the years. Each show a group of us makes plans for dinner at Royer’s Round Top Cafe, which is known far and wide for its pies. You wait outside, sitting on benches or hay bails, until your name is called. There are two giant antique coolers on the porch filled with wine and beer, and you serve yourself, 
reporting your drinks on the honor system to one of the Royer offspring that now run the cafe. Bud Royer, the patriarch and founder, greets people by name, clad in his mainstay turquoise bracelets, rings and necklaces. The show began, and in many ways still is, with a heavy emphasis on Texana and western, which remains the heart of my heart, even though I don’t focus on that any more. It’s common to see dealers and shoppers clad in attire they wouldn’t wear anywhere else – cowboy boots with skirts & dresses, cowboy hats, concho belts. I love the excuse to put on a pair of vintage cowboy boots and roll up my jeans so they can be fully appreciated.
My least favorite aspect is that out in the cow pastures, there are not restrooms. And even in the buildings where restrooms exist, they simply weren’t made to accommodate the demand. So Port-A-Potties are a common sight. I can think of a long list of things I’d rather do than have to make that choice, so I try to be a regular at Third Base, whose restroom is for paying customers only. I buy a LOT a iced teas.
It’s a given that the weather will be one of two things no matter what the season of the show: blazing hot or rainy and stormy. This show was the latter. Nearby San Antonio had 59 straight days of 100* temperatures in July and August and the whole of south Texas was under a 2 year drought. But when it started raining, it didn’t quit (still hasn’t). So I gathered my rain gear and prepared for it. Wellies were the standard footwear, because even the days without rain left fields of mud through which we all slogged in search of the next discovery.
Next time: Sights from The Marburger Farm Antique Show! 
