Fantastic Finds at the Yankee Barn Sale, Dublin, NH

Recently we attended, for the umpteenth time, the amazing annual Yankee Barn Sale, New Hampshire's flea market extravaganza in Dublin.

Now in its 36th year, the sale features new, used, antique and vintage items from over 80 local residents and employees of Yankee Publishing, Inc. (publishers of  the renowned Yankee Magazine, founded in 1935). It's definitely the primary Do-Not-Miss treasure hunt on our calendar.


And this year was a great one, at least for acquiring loads of new finds for my Etsy shop.

The whole scene is held in a huge field near Yankee headquarters. You pay a dollar to park (hopefully not too far from the sellers, as you don't want to spend too much time walking back and forth to your car with all the stuff you've found), 

Sellers park their cars and vans in their pre-paid-for slots and then set their ware out on the grass or under a tent, if they've brought one. There's absolutely everything for sale from furniture to clothing to all kinds of vintage and antique household items.

I always bring along two large bags to carry over my shoulder, although a lot of what I bought this year was too heavy and had to be transported to our car via my patient and helpful husband.

There are food vendors here for breakfast and lunch, although I'm too busy buying to stop and eat. I pack peanut butter toast and smoothies for our half hour ride over, and we leave home at 7 a.m. for the sale, which, strictly speaking, begins at 8 a.m.  However, there are always people there when we arrive. I suppose we really should get there earlier, but...sleep and a leisurely wake-up with coffee are simply higher priorities.

The whole scene is so colorful and a real New England dose of high Americana.

But then, within about an hour and a half of intensive looking, bartering, and buying, we're suddenly exhausted--kind of like when you're going through a fantastic art museum (the Met, say) and, going from one visual stimulation to the next, you find your knees getting weak and your eyes beginning to blur....

So then home we go, our car loaded with fantastic finds. All of which then need hours of research and determining prices, and then photographing, and listing...lots of work. 

But ah the hunt: therein lies the never-ending joy!