Rain Rain Go Away! - Falmouth Hisorical Society Antiques Show & Newport Antiques Festival At Fort Adams

Holly Lane Antiques was scheduled to participate in the new Newport Antiques Festival at Fort Adams today. What a beautiful site for an antiques show! Situated at the mouth of the Newport Harbor, Fort Adams offers an exceptional panoramic view of both Newport Harbor and the East Passage of Narragansett Bay. That is - on a typical sunny summer day. Not today - heavy rain and winds predicted all day. Sadly, we opted to stay home and avoid a repeat of last weekend.



Last Saturday we were comforted with the weather news that the rain would not make an appearance until 7 pm - long after the Falmouth Historical Society Antiques Show was over. As the show was opening at 9 am and just as we were putting the final touches on our beautiful booth full of all our wonderful treasures the heavens opened. A torrential downpour happened. We consoled ourselves that most of our items were washable and took refuge under our popup tent. The rain came down so heavy and so fast that our popup collapsed under the weight of the water. An antique dealer's worst nightmare! Then the question was how to remove it without damaging all our breakables? Many items were damaged in the process but it could have been much worse.



The rain cell moved on and the sun came out creating a steamy hot day but no more rain! Interestingly, many visitors to our booth had not experienced any rain at all at their homes only a few miles away.



We spent the rest of the day emptying out our pitchers and cups and saucers amazed at how much water they had collected in such a short time. Also, between visitors to our booth, we tried to dry as much as we could of our rain drenched booth. Note the special English tablecloth displayed on the back table. The dye from the table cover ran into it. I have been trying all week to rescue it - no luck! Surprisingly, after sitting in the sun all day most of our items were still wet at packing time. There was just too much moisture still in the air.





This was a day we will not soon forget - one that makes us stop and ask - why do we do this? The answer is simple in that we enjoy our antiques and sharing them with others. Though we also sell our antiques on the internet, there is nothing to equal meeting those who will take them as their own - to share their joy in their find!



Admittedly our experience of last Saturday has made us more than a bit cautious this Saturday. 100% prediction of heavy rain driven by wind - just couldn't do it! Though it is our understanding the show will go on rain or shine for those braver souls than we.


Holly Lane Antiques would love to have you visit our booth at one of our shows to see and touch our special antique items in person. Contact us to be added to our show mailing list at hollyln@sprintmail.com.

And click on the banner below to visit our internet store where many of the items pictured are available for purchase.


Also visit our new internet store
Holly Lane Antiques at Ruby Lane