As some of you know, one of my hobbies is Model Railroading. Over the yrs, I’ve accumulated some stuff (magazines, “locomotive equipment”, etc.), that are either duplicates or no longer wanted – there was a time where I would put this unwanted stuff on eBay, but haven’t done that in the recent few years.
About a month or two ago, I became aware of a local MRR flea market that was being held (today) in a suburb (by the name of Coon Rapids – yes, for those that live outside of MN, that is its name – anyway, I digress).
I signed up as a vendor and got myself two 8 foot tables/slots, and hauled this unwanted stuff up there this morning at the “crack o’ dawn”, having to be set up by 9am, and it’s about a 45 min trip from “beautiful downtown Apple Valley”.
We (the “Royal We”) get there, and it seems I have an end/corner “primo” spot. The doors opened “exactly” at 9, and boy, there were more people than I would have thought, wanting to see what everyone had for sale. [turns out they had 325 people show up at $5 a person – these were not the vendors, but the people interested in buying stuff]
Almost right off the bat (within the first hour, I think), I sold an “engine” (loc) – one of two that I was selling. Yea! [cha-ching].
By noon, the crowd was dwindling down to a trickle. The doors were to close at 2pm, but some of us starting packing at 1:30.
Met some nice people, mostly old geezers like me (or even older!). But, there was a few young kids (4-12 yrs old), obviously accompanied by GranPa (hhmm, one day Lailah may be among them, I hope), and here is the interesting twist: there was this tall, thin, lanky older teen ager/young adult, accompanied by his GF – both of them, dressed in “Goth”, make-up, earrings in noses, VERY black (dyed) hair and short haircuts, etc., but, you could see this young man’s interest in MRR (he had already purchased some stuff from other vendors), as well, as his GF showing her love and support, by going to this flea market with him! Go Kid!
Had a “nice” time, but it was a bit tiring. Made some pocket change ($160). Problem is, if you are selling stuff at a “specialized” flea market (such as MRR), you have to really fight the urge to buy the same “specialized” stuff that is sitting right next to you or further down the aisle – lol. [yes, I was able to control myself, and didn’t spend any of my “earnings”]
Oh, this flea market was sponsored by the local MRR club which also happens to own the building next door to the VFW (flea market) and in this building is where the club is building their MRR layout – and I got a chance to look at it after the flea market ended. I don’t know how many square feet their room was, but it looked like about 3000-5000 square feet of space, all of it was model railroad track and scenery – it looked to be about 1/3 to 1/2 done. Some of it was “ok”, and some of it (the scenery) was really well done (i.e., outstanding and realistic). I took a few dozen pics and will try to post them in the next day or two.
All in all, a good day.
