Lynn Yaeger on How to Survive (And Win!) the Flea Market Marathon at Brimfield
Like the siblings longing for Moscow in Chekhov’s Three Sisters, I have always wanted to go to the antiques extravaganza in Brimfield, Massachusetts. This thrice-yearly almost weeklong marathon is famous for its many thousands of dealers, its alleged bargains, and the infinite variety of its offerings. But events conspired against me—I never learned to drive; there is no public transportation up there; and most of my friends, at least the ones with licenses, think the Bataan Death March would be preferable to spending 10 hours in a dirty field looking at vintage plowshares and pruning hooks.So when Amanda Dolan and Meagan Colby, the co-proprietors of the vintage clothing business Spark Pretty, tell me that they will be driving up, that they already have a reservation at the La Quinta in Auburn, 25 miles away, the closest they could get to mecca—I jump up and down and beg to tag along.brimfieldWhich is how I find myself earlier this week slogging through pastures of plenty. I have been...