Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1516369
Jim Kastleman JACK THOMPSON T he dates of the antiques and design shows had pretty much been set for decades — the spring show in the last two weeks of March, and the fall show in the last two weeks of September. Then, during COVID in 2020, after the county judge shut down the spring show, my former partner in the Show Guide gathered all stakeholders together and convinced the judge to keep the fall show open. His compromise was to push the date to the last two weeks of October, to allow time for the venues to adapt COVID protocols. The dates stuck, and fall remains the last two weeks of October. The behemoth venues of Marburger and the Big Red Barn sometimes jostled with their dates but had settled for the last week of the show. For several years now, there has been talk among the venues of changing the fall dates because they overlap with the huge High Point, North Carolina, furniture market. High Point is nothing like Round Top — there are cool venues and dealers, but it's predominantly the bigger corporate brands selling to buyers. A couple of years ago, Tom Conley — the recently retired CEO of the High Point Market Authority — brought his senior staff to experience Round Top. He invited me to join a spectacular outdoor dinner at Three Oaks Farm. At the end of the night, I finally asked, "Tom, what exactly are y'all doing here?" He chuckled and said they were simply trying to figure out how they could "bottle the excitement of Round Top and bring it to High Point." I told him, "Good luck!" The problem is, some buyers and designers have to choose between going to High Point or to Round Top in the fall. Marburger, feeling the overlap between the two shows and the sense of losing some buyers/ shoppers, has made the bold move to change its fall dates to the first week of the show: October 15 through 19, 2024. I think, in theory, this will create a more stable attendance over the two-week period, instead of the typical rush of folks who flock here for the last week. Time will tell … Enjoy the spring show! Jim Kastleman Chairman jim@papercitymag.com 16