For 65 years, the Brimfield Flea Market has provided New Englanders and collectors from all over the country a place to gather and shop antiques, artisan crafts and collectors goods. While waves of new shoppers and dealers come and go, there are some faithful participants who make it a point to attend the market year after year, and show after show.
These staple personalities have become part of the fabric of what makes the Brimfield Flea Market — the Brimfield Flea Market; with a majority of people returning going out of their way to visit their favorite dealers at every show, according to the Brimfield Flea Market’s website.
This is certainly true for multi-decade dealers like Dorris Dixon, a German native who, for 26 years, has traveled from Lansdale, Pennsylvania three times a year to host a booth at the market.
“This is my favorite show, people in general are really nice here,” Dixon said. “I love being up here.”
Dixon moved to the U.S from Germany in 1981, later marrying and having children. When it was time to return back to work after having children, Dixon decided she didn’t want to go back to working in an office and started an antique business in Pennsylvania in 1994.
Always enjoying auctions and having “a good eye for good things,” the transition was natural.
She first set up at the Brimfield show in 1998 — her fourth year in the antique business. At the start of her business, she focused on buying and refurbishing antique furniture like tables and benches, but has shifted her products according to what her interests and buyers interests are.
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She heard about the Brimfield Flea Market at a show she was dealing at in Lambertville, New Jersey.
“A friend from Massachusetts said ‘you gotta do Brimfield,’” she said. It wasn’t long before she set her sights on selling in the Bay State and made her way to Hampden County.
For her first Brimfield show, Dixon sold out of May’s Field, where everything that came out of her storage truck was bought before being rained out after just a few hours.
The following show, Dixon planted herself in the back corner of Shelton’s Field, where’s she been ever since.
“It’s the best in the back,” she said. “You can move around and people are walking here.”
Dixon said likes dealing in Shelton’s Field because of the friendly faces and familial atmosphere. Over the years, she and the returning vendors have developed a sense of community that only grows with time.
“People buy from each other and build a (sense of) family,” she said. “You see them three times a year for a week at a time.”
Lola was one of the dogs we spotted strolling around the Brimfield Flea Market. Lola is a rescue who a vendor, Dorris Dixon of Pennsylvania, found astray in Loretto, California.Dallas Gagnon
The community at Shelton’s Field is so tight-knit, that even the dealers dogs are bonded.
Dixon travels with her four furry-friends, Lola, a matriarch and a rescue from Loretto, California, her two daughters, Mariposa and Blackie, and another rescue, Footsie.
Lola she was pregnant when Dixon rescued her six years ago. Just weeks after she had her puppies, Dixon took the pack with her to the Brimfield Flea Market where another dealer had said they wanted a pup after the death of a pet earlier that year.
Wanting them to go to good homes, Dixon gave two of the puppies to other dealers in the field. Now Dixon and Lola are reunited with those littermates at every show.
After 30 years in the business, Dixon has been to many shows across the country.
“Throughout the years, I went from a number of smaller shows, to bigger shows,” she said. Today she focuses on one big show: Brimfield. While she just stopped attending the Round Top Antiques Fair in Texas earlier this year, she said it’s only “for now.”
Outside of show season, Dixon keeps busy selling goods at The People’s Store antiques center and co-op in Lambertville, New Jersey.
The key to running a successful booth is keeping your offerings diverse, Dixon said.
Dorris Dixon, a Pennsylvania resident, has been dealing at the Brimfield Flea Market since 1998. She transitioned from selling German imports and refurbished antique furniture in 2008 to Mexican metals.Dallas Gagnon
“Keep it fresh — change your style but maintain your core,” Dixon said.
That’s what she did in 2008 after attending the Round Top show and transitioned from her classic antiques and German imports into Mexican metal sculptures.
“You always have to produce something new,” she said. “Be flexible.”
Dixon saw the metals at a show, bought some, and “it all sold,” she said.
Now she gets the colorful, unique metal sculptures imported directly from Mexico and they are still a hit.
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