Fun Finds at Goldrush!

Our area in Minnesota sure comes alive in August with the onset of GOLDRUSH!

It's an antiques and junking weekend like no other. People come from all around the nation to see it and shop it and sell at it. It is held in two spots at the SAME TIME--Oronoco, Minnesota and in Rochester, Minnesota about 20 miles away. It is all comparable to Round Top, JunkFest, and to some of the big shows on the East coast from what I hear these vendors saying. And if there is old stuff to be had--I am there! I have been going to Goldrush now for 26 years and have never been disappointed. I get to wear my big hat and sunglasses and paw through cool junk all weekend! I am posing here with a 1900's early rocker JUST like the one we have photos of my mother sitting in back in 1940.




My pal Sue came back to Minnesota for the Goldrush (and a round of visiting with her family) all the way from Texas. I think she loves junk (oops! I mean cool stuff!) as much as I do! See her blog here:
ZUEEUZ

Having Sue visiting us in Minnesota again has been soooo much fun. We have hit all the second hand stores earlier in the week as well as Goldrush in both locations. We even met the ladies of Junk Bonanza (see below) at the Goldrush! Now that is a treat. Those gals know how to decorate a booth and have lots of yummy vintage items.




Trying to see all the items from 1500 vendors is a BIG deal and boy did our feet get sore. Luckily the local fire station has inexpensive food and drinks --and a shady spot to sit a spell. We saw some unique items like this giant garden flower made from aluminum kitchenware and mounted on a pipe. Just think, no rust!



Here are some of my vintage "finds" and how I have used them. I have a thing for boxes, bins, baskets, and containers. Let's start off with a few I got this week.





A 50 cent steel 8mm movie storage case now turns into the perfect card caddy for my A2 greeting cards. The center panel in the front folds down too. Nice they had little dividers build into it along the back and bottom just the right size!



Three $1 coffee cans will evenually be used as a three tiered caddy with rods and spools between them. I am storing my Cricut blades, markers and tools in them.



A tisket, a tasket, a blue Martha box FULL of silk ribbon for $4.00 and a $1 vintage lidded basket!



Now this navy blue caddy box is a doozie! I took it to the car as fast as I could so I wouldn't have to lug it! LOL It is 3 feet long and 1 foot wide made of wood and has 18 compartments! Nine on each side make it wonderful for all my misc as you can see. $30 Yeah me! Comparable sizes were going for triple that price.



A desk stand for my recent cards with 7 loops and a great jumbo glass bead. Not vintage but very needed! $1



A 1960's turquoise vinyl eyeglass case with a magnetic snap top mirror lid! Canning lids because I needed some and the price is right, two clear glass bowls, 4 Precious Moments cookie cutters for my extensive cutter collection, 7 colors of thick thread meant for candlewicking in the 80's but now destined for cardmaking. All combined only $4



Less than $10 for this whole lot! Silver cake servers that will be re-purposed to garden plant markers after some metal stamping, green earrings for me, a necklace for myself or my daughter, and some misc jewelry baubles that will be made into a rhinestone, pearl and carved rose necklace later this week. Look for it here in a later posting.



Well we all know what these are! $1 for the whole Scrabble-icious box.





Scrabble letters used to showcase some ultra-terrific kids! And in the background, don't you just love old books too?




I wanted a rotary phone for my desk--Hubby tested it and it WORKS with our phone lines! Yeah! $5.00 only. Also got 5 old mini New Testaments for a book art project. Don't worry, it will be very reverent. Will showcase that later in the fall on the blog here too.



Love skeleton keys but they have to be the right price! Less than $1 each and shown here with a 3 inch wide vintage stone mortar bowl. LOVE the patina on it and it even has a little pour spout. I think this will be my new paperclip bowl.



As a writer and bona-fide English major, of course I love books. As a genealogist, of course I love HISTORY! Here we picked up old text books for $2 a piece: Published in 1895 Stories of Great Americans, The St Croix River from 1965, and Harper's International Geography from 1877!!!! And for my paper crafting delight, a 375 page trumpet music book that I can tear apart and craft with for 50 cents! No lyrics--ONLY music notes on every page!



Now after all that shopping out of doors, we needed to cool off! What better way than with a vintage ZERO fan in just the right shade of green metal? This $15 beauty is going in my workroom.

It sure was a fun weekend. Thanks so much to Sue and also to my hubby Mike for junking along with me. I held out for good prices and Goldrush treasures were definitely found!