Cancelled antique fair inspires and irritates

The Healdsburg Memorial Day Antique Fair was cancelled with just
a few days’ notice, leaving some community members irate and others
inspired.
“The unusual wet weather leading up to the event was clearly the
reason that we tried to find an alternative spot for the antique
fair,” City of Healdsburg Parks Manager Matthew Thompson said. “We
had almost a half inch of rain on Tuesday and more than a half inch
of rain on Thursday, so when I met with the event organizer on
Thursday afternoon it was clear that the damage from the event was
going to be significant.”
According to Thompson, the historical society and event
coordinator Bill Weinstein didn’t think they would be able to move
the event to an alternative location on such short notice.
“We’ve been working with Bill for 20 years,” Thompson said. “We
both understood the impact of the event. Bill didn’t want to be
responsible for something that was going to create lasting damage
to Plaza Park.”
Still, some shoppers and vendors felt that the wet weather was
insufficient cause for cancellation.
“I’ve heard there are people who don’t like the idea of the
antique fair, or maybe it’s all of the plaza functions including
the art shows—but I think the grass gets the most use at the
antique fair,” avid antique shopper Marian Murphy said. “There are
people who just want to keep the place pristine. I think it wasn’t
just this one time cancellation, but I hope I’m wrong.”
She added, “I know we had a lot of rain and I know the grass was
more susceptible to damage, I get that, but there are places that
get rain all Summer, and they manage to hold events anyway. It’s
just so important that we continue to keep community events.”
Murphy also noted that the Healdsburg Future Farmers Country
Fair had proceeded as usual despite the swampy condition of the
grass field site. The Wild Steelhead Festival is held on the plaza
in February, a rainy time of year, and the season’s first concert
on the plaza was held just a few days after the cancelled antique
fair.
Meanwhile, despite learning of the cancellation just three days
before the event, Anne Williamson of Mill Street Antiques decided
to make the best of things. She and her partner Liz Frigilio held
an alternative antique fair in the parking lot outside their
antique store, allowing vendors and customers the opportunity to
participate in a smaller scale fair.
“As it turned out, it was very nice for our store; we had good
business because of it,” Williamson said. “To my knowledge, vendors
were really pleased with business there too. They didn’t blame
anybody for the cancellation, there was no bad talking.”
Nine vendors participated in the alternate event, and Williamson
charged them a small stall fee to cover her expenses.
Williamson did note that some customers were disappointed. “We
ran into a couple of disgruntled customers who’d driven a long way
for a bigger fair, but for the most part 99.9 percent were happy,
they were having a holiday and they were okay.”
Williamson hopes to be part of the Healdsburg Memorial Day
Antique Fair in the future, and expand the reach of the fair over
to Mill Street. “It’s my understanding that Bill Weinstein has more
vendors than he can accommodate sometime, and we’re going to offer
space to the people who don’t have space in the park.”