posted on September 8, 2000 02:25:57 PM new
Just wondering who is going to the RoundTop/Warrenton show in Texas?
I'll be setting up for the first time at Marburger Farms. Have done the show for 6 years now, but this will be my first time closer to RoundTop - I usually set up in Warrenton. So I am real excited.
posted on September 8, 2000 02:45:28 PM new
No, it's kind of between Austin and Houston - down in what is known in Texas as DotCom country.
It is also near the site of the once famous Chicken Ranch.
It is off of highway 237.
Normally, a very small quite town - but during the show it swells to thousands. There are tents as far as you can see on both sides of the highway and in every little town around. Dealers start arriving the week-end before the advertised dates. By the time the advertised show starts it's nothing but bumper to bumper traffic.
And it is always either hot and windy or rainy and windy. But always windy. The weatherplanner site says it will be a mixture of both this time.
It's a terrific show. People come from all over.
noteye
P.S. Here is the URL to Marburger Farms - if you wanna take a look.
http://www.roundtop-marburger.com/
Be sure and check out the photo album - there are some pics at the end of the album that give you an idea of the traffic.
posted on September 8, 2000 04:15:38 PM new
I wasn't going but now that I saw your post I am. Maybe I will see you there.
My husband (who by the way is not to happy about this,"oh boy miles and miles of old junk" is going to try and get that Tuesday off so I can get in with the early birds.
("Oh boy miles and miles of old junk and we get to see it first,yipeee!!!!!"
posted on September 8, 2000 08:27:07 PM new
Red beans and rice...I love it. I think I will make it for lunch tomorrow.
Never had it until I moved to Texas. One of the first things I learned to make down here. I have a Hispanic friend who says I make the meanest bowl of "gringo" chilli
she has ever had. I never figured out if that was a compliment or not.(I'm guessing not)
posted on September 8, 2000 08:30:39 PM new
Noteye: Texas ,in any month but december...we'll all be sweating.
I can't wait it will be fun. I never get to go to all the great events they have in Texas.
Did you ever go to Canton Trade Days?
posted on September 8, 2000 08:33:59 PM new
Making a mean bowl of gringo chili is a huge, huge, huge compliment! My husband has the knack - but, I don't get adventurous enough with the seasonings. What do you put in yours?
Haven't been to Canton in many years - lots of fun as I remember though.
posted on September 8, 2000 09:42:09 PM new
My very first meal, upon entering Texas in 4th grade, was chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, mustard greens and biscuits, in a diner across from a motel in Waco. It will remain my favorite. You just can't get that kind of cooking up here!!!
posted on September 9, 2000 05:20:48 AM new
I have been to Canton and was not impressed at all. Of course, it was so darn hot - I couldn't think, much less contemplate a purchase.
As for Marburger Farms, it is just one of the shows going on that week-end. The entire event centers around the show begun by Emmalee Turney in RoundTop. She began it almost 30 years ago and it has grown to enormous proportions. It now includes every little town from Warrenton to Shelby to Carmine and back to RoundTop. By Tuesday Oct 3, it will be a sea of white and silver tents. The event - and it has become an event in Texas - actually begins on the week-end of Sept 29/30 with people arriving to set up, especially in towns like Warrenton, where the restrictions are not enforced. From then on, it's a new field opening every day, with some of the higher toned shows opening only during the final week-end of Sept 6-8. It's an adventure.
If you come into RoundTop by way of Warrenton on Hiway 237 - you will just have to stop and shop in Warrenton - there are literally thousands of dealers in that town. It was mind boggling to me the first time I went there. All of the 'cow pastures' along the highway are turned into huge parking and vendor lots. Just tent after tent after tent. There are circus tents after circus tents. I have some friends from Houston who rent a large 60' by 120' circus tent right on the main highway. It is filled to the brim with only their stuff. They bring 2 semi trailers packed. It takes them a week to set it all up and a week to tear it down, but the business they do - makes it all worth it!
And everything I have said about the show, is underplaying it. It is an event!
As for food, there are some great places to eat there. There are a couple of restuarants that are family run and have extremely long waiting lines. They even have bales of hay out under the shade trees for you to sit and wait for a table while you drink 'sweet tea'.
As for accomodations, if you haven't reserved a place, you may have to stay up to an hour away. All the locals hotels, motels, B&Bs are booked sometimes a year in advance.
It's the one show I do that always sticks out in my mind because it seems everyone is hauling something around. If you have one of those carts on wheels that you can pull - it would be a good idea to bring it. I've bought stuff from one booth and while hauling it back to my booth - sold it along the way for a nice profit.
When I set up in Warrenton, I used to have almost 10,000 sq foot of space. It was a big chore setting up the show and hiring helpers to unload and help with the customers, but well worth it. I had to stop doing such a large production because of health reasons, but so wish I could do it again. I would set a small area of my tents up as sleeping quarters and there was something so wonderful about waking up in the morning to the smell of freshly brewing coffee, fresh air and a gentle breeze blowing across you.
So, I guess what I am trying to say - is, go! Enjoy yourself and meet new people - eat food that isn't good for you and shop. Just like anywhere though, some will be high priced and some will be dirt cheap. And you may come away from it all thinking it would be fun to do the show - it is! It's hard work, but it's fun.
Though not so fun when the winds blow really hard and sling your tent across the highway into the next field. Though not so fun when you awake in the middle of the night to a 'tingling' in your feet only to realize you have placed your bed over a fire ant bed. And not so fun when a gentle rain turns into a torrential downpour so heavy that water runs through your booth deep enough you could paddle back to Dallas.
is going to try and get that Tuesday off so I can get in with the early birds.
