I went to a friend's house Thursday morning to do some weeding. As I was weeding I got to thinking that we didn't really have anything going on over the Fourth of July weekend, and I needed to remedy that and make some plans. As soon as I got home, my husband said "We need to talk." No, I wasn't in trouble -- he had come to the same conclusion and took it a step further and done his homework.
I quickly cleaned up and packed and we took off for Fairbury, Nebraska. He said Fairbury was hosting southeast Nebraska's largest flea market over the weekend of the Fourth. Although I grew up in Nebraska, I never recall having been to Fairbury. So we took a little tour of the town...
Fairbury, Nebraska was home to Fairbury Windmill Company, which was in business from 1899 until 1961. Many of the old windmills that you see around were made by this company. Their windmill weights in the shape of bulls and horses are well known to collectors.
These two park buildings were SO COOL.
They were built in 1936,
so I assume they were part of the CCC or WPA program.
Many vendors were still setting up on Thursday afternoon,
but at least half were ready to sell.
This wallhanging was made out of grain.
What a creative piece of folk art.
We saw (and picked up) a few fun things -- I'll show off my finds on a future post.
I loved this old sled with SKIS, out of my price range though. Then we ate a quick bite at an iconic Runza Restaurant (fooling people into eating cabbage since 1949).
We ended the evening by attending an indoor weekly auction. It was hot, things sold slow and someone kept outbidding me on everything I wanted. So after we spent a big $3.00, we went back to our hotel for the night to watch some Food Network.
Friday morning we got up early to hit a few garage sales (yes, a trifecta in 24 hours -- flea market, auction, garage sales). We picked up a few things, including buying some items from "Vince" (left) whom I recognized from last night's auction (where he was the one who outbid me on everything!)
One of the things I bought from Vince at his garage sale was this scary doll, which he ironically purchased Thursday night at the auction after I left. It was on my list of something I wanted! You'll have to tune in soon to see my other Fairbury treasures.
After the garage sales on Friday morning, we hit the flea market again. Visited the newly set-up vendors... .and spent every last dollar we had. Luckily, Valentino's Pizza took our credit card to pay for lunch. So we headed home with a full van, full tummies, and empty pocketbook.
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