From Delaware in early November to Palm Beach over Presidents' Day weekend, here are the antique shows, fairs, and flea markets worth planning a winter around.
Winter is when the antiques calendar moves indoors and heads south. The big outdoor fields of Brimfield and Round Top go quiet, and the season shifts to convention centers, expo halls, and Florida fairgrounds. Here is how the next four months shape up, month by month.
Every show below has its own page on Antique Almanac with dates, venue, admission, directions, and the antique shops nearby. As always, confirm dates with the organizer before you travel. Schedules do change.
November is the busiest month of the winter, with shows on both coasts and the last outdoor markets of the year in the North.
The Delaware Antiques Show (November 6–8, Wilmington) is the season's serious opener. Run as a benefit for Winterthur Museum, it brings more than sixty dealers in American antiques and decorative arts to the Chase Center on the Riverfront, along with lectures on American material culture. If you collect American furniture, silver, or folk art, this is the November show to see.
The same weekend, the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival (November 6–8) fills the South Florida Fairgrounds with 300-plus booths. It runs once a month through the winter, which makes it the easiest Florida show to fit into a trip.
Mid-month brings the two giants of the Southeast and Southern California:
The weekend of November 20–22 is crowded. The Santa Barbara Antique Show, the Eastern National Antique Show & Sale in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Renninger's Extravaganza in Mount Dora, Florida, and the Nashville Flea Market all fall on the same weekend. Ohio pickers have Springfield (November 21–22) and Scott's Columbus show (November 28–29).
December is lighter, and the dealers who do set up are often in a mood to move stock before year's end. Scott Atlanta runs December 10–13, the Rose Bowl is December 13, and Long Beach is December 20.
In Texas, First Monday Trade Days in Canton runs December 3–6. In Florida, West Palm Beach (December 4–6) and Renninger's Holiday Antique & Craft Market in Mount Dora (December 5–6) make a good weekend pairing. Nashville's flea market moves to December 18–20 for the holidays.
January belongs to the high end. The Antiques & Garden Show of Nashville (January 8–10) gathers more than 150 antiques, art, and horticulture exhibitors at Music City Center. It has raised over $13 million for Cheekwood and ECON Charities since 1990.
Later in the month comes The Winter Show at New York's Park Avenue Armory (January 22–31), the country's most prestigious antiques fair. Roughly seventy vetted dealers show pieces spanning thousands of years, and it anchors a week of Americana auctions and satellite shows around the city.
In Texas, Round Top's winter edition (January 21–24 at the Big Red Barn and Blue Hills) is a smaller, quieter alternative to the spring and fall weeks. It's a good choice if the crowds of the main weeks have put you off.
Florida starts the year with West Palm Beach on January 1–3.
The winter season peaks in Palm Beach over Presidents' Day weekend. The Palm Beach Show (February 11–16, Palm Beach County Convention Center) brings fine art, antiques, and jewelry from international dealers, with an opening-night preview on Thursday the 11th.
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