The Brimfield Show starts today!
What is Brimfield?
Well to start with it’s a small town in Massachusetts, south of Warren, west of the more famous Sturbridge and east of Palmer and Monson — so yes, right, another small town in the middle of no where.
But what makes Brimfield special is that back in September 1959 the Reid family started an antique show that has become not just an annual event, but a tri-annual event with shows every year in May, July and September.
And it has grown from 67 antique dealers the first year, to over 5000 now.
Brimfield claims to be the largest outdoor antique show in the world!
All along a one mile stretch, just to the west of the town center, the farmers and land owners turn their fields into show grounds and parking lots. The entire town is transformed for an entire week The 5000 antique dealers from across the country are spread out over 21 fields.
As you can imagine both traffic and accommodations
are problematic for that week.
When we first opened the Inn, we were looking for furnishings (who has enough to furnish a 9600 sq ft mansion?) and discovered Brimfield. Since then we try to go down for a day. Sometimes we go in May, sometimes in July–I don’t think we’ve ever been to the September show as we are usually too busy here at the Inn.
You do have to be careful. Some of the dealers sell antiques and some have items of lesser quality. Most are expecting you to haggle. Touring the show is a fun but exhausting day. We usually can only do half in one day. Different fields open on different days. The best time to visit a given field is the day it opens but there are some fields opening each day of the week so there is always something going on. There are several websites that tell you more about the show, and one even has a map so check them out before you go.
It’s better to plan to go from either the east end or the west end, so you don’t have to drive through the middle of the show.
We also usually have guests every year that stay with us to just to attend the show. In fact we have some coming this Thursday night.
So if you’re looking for a quiet place to eat and relax at the end of the day, the Inn at Clamber Hill is only 30 miles (a beautiful back roads drive) north of Brimfield. Just ask and we’ll send you the directions!
