I have been going to Gold Rush Days for 5 or 6 years now!! When my friend Marcia’s boyfriend and junkin’ partner died I offered to help her with Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days. Marcia still has the same booth her parents had when she was growing up!! She is located right across from the fire station!! So if you go, please be sure to stop and say hello!
My job is to drive one of the trailers to Oronoco, Minnesota. There we unload two trailers full of Marcia’s treasures! And boy does she have treasures!! I have learned so much from Marcia over the years about antiques, the business of selling antiques, and just becoming good friends. Once we get the trailers unloaded and pieces situated, I turn into a supervisor. Mainly just helping watch the booth and taking customers money when they aren’t wanting to negotiate!!
I think it’s hard for some people to understand that these are not my items and I can’t wheel and deal with them!
When things settle down I try to always sneak away and see what treasure I might find! This show, like so many antique shows has changed so much since I first started coming. I would say it is easily a third of the size it used to be. Instead of taking up every inch of small town Oronoco, the antique show is mainly now focused around the old school house. Still plenty to shop, but just not the same as it used to be!
Watch THIS video to get a feel for Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days!
I had to take a picture of this mail box!! We always park the trailers in the same spot, but this time the mailbox said Matts!! My hubby is Matt, so I felt like I needed to take a picture!
This is a 3 day show, Friday through Sunday. However, dealers set up on Thursday and until they let the vendors enter the town, we all sit parked in designated lines around the town. If you look at the Downtown Oronoco Gold Rush Days website you might notice that it says you can’t shop on Thursday. Turns out, I guess for insurance purposes or because of some law, promoters can’t publish or promote that information! At least that’s what another show promotor told me for the Elkhorn Antique Show.
So, all that to be said that you can come shop on Thursday while dealers are set up. Often times people come and shop the lines. More people use enclosed trailers than they used to, so this makes shopping the line a little bit harder, but it still happens.
One example from this last show was a gentleman that was looking for fishing stuff. Marcia told him she had a couple things and where her booth was located. That way he knew it was worth coming to our booth at the beginning of setup to see what she had that he might like to add to his collection! And, he did buy her most unique fishing piece!
What else is great about this show? There is another show happening the same weekend in Rochester, Minnesota. That shows dealers set up on Friday and sell Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So if you have a long distance to travel, you can shop both events. You can even shop both events multiple days! Hit up this event in Oronoco on Thursday during setup and again on Saturday and shop the Rochester event Friday during setup and then Sunday!!
The shows are always the 3rd weekend in August!!
Curious about some other flea markets and antique shows I love?? Get all of the details HERE.
