Add to all that the collecting mania that seems to have taken hold of millions of Americans. Everybody collects something. At least one auction Web site is getting into the act. We're trying to get on the bandwagon. Sheer size seems to attract people.
People are just insatiable.
The show, which focuses on Americana, featured more than 500 dealers, who set up in motel rooms, a convention hall and an outdoor tent. The Brimfield show, billed as the world's largest outdoor antiques and collectibles fair, started in 1959 in one field in the tiny Massachusetts town. Today the show takes over 21 fields, attracts 4,000 dealers, occurs three times a year for six days, and draws 60,000 to 100,000 people per show, says Robert Brown, publisher of the Brimfield Antique Guide . Atlantique City started out in 1986 in a smaller convention hall and with about half the number of dealers it attracts today. Now Schaut boasts that his show covers the equivalent of 12 football fields.