That's what we are, we all want a junk bizarre: Shakopee, MN

If you hadn't got the hint yet, I love antiques and re-purposed junk (and Sheila E. & Prince). I often wonder where we will dig the landfills of tomorrow, and through re-tooling my lifestyle (composting, recycling, antiquing, re-purposing items, etc) I'd like to think I'm contributing less waste. My husband and I were recently charged with the duty of replacing my 1993 Cadillac (yes, driven by the girl trying to create less waste...baby steps, baby!). We were lured into the Cash-4-Clunkers program, and started driving new cars as soon the incentive began. After a few drives, and a little research, I started feeling repulsed by the program. Halfway decent cars, with 5-10 years left on their lifespan, were going straight to the junkyard. What the hecks? The environmental equation of this economic stimulator made little sense to me.  We ended up purchasing a used car with better gas mileage, and donated the Cadi to Newgate, who would in turn fix her up and give her to a family in need of a vehicle.

Back to more exciting junk (love you Cadi, ol' girl!). Junk Bizarre is like Midwest junk mecca, all housed within Canterbury Park in Shakopee. It's apparently the biggest annual junk swap in the Midwest. Three days of price haggling, casts of interesting characters and the constant reminder that the items you buy are salvaged lovelies that would have most times ended up in a landfill.

So are you really sifting through junk at the bizarre? Course not, all the hard work of re-purposing and upcycling all the un-usable stuff has been completed by vendors, who are clearly artists in their trade. Each stall is like an exciting adventure, organized artistically like an old-school department store window display. Vendors only bring their best stuff...they're hauling it all the way from their store, so they intend to sell everything.

I had planned for the Junk Bizarre for months, so I did not go home empty handed. The green cabinet will now live in my "coal room" in the basement to organize paint and painting materials. Each panel of the cabinet came from a different source (all broken, but salvageable wood items). 

 I also collect old beverage crates from Minnesota. I bought the yellow one, which was a past home to non-alcoholic beverages during prohibition from Duluth. Now our dominos and other games will live in there, creating easy transport for non-prohibition game nights.

Finally, I purchased this primitive red cupboard to gain more storage in our pantry. It replaced a mounted cabinet that I donated to the Re-Use Center.

The incredible immigrant trunks and tin ceiling tiles at the top of the post are from "Dona-Rose" antiques. If you missed out on Junk Bizarre, Dona Rose will be at an upcoming sale "Gathering of Friends" (terrible name acknowledged), October 8-11 at Bachman's on Lyndale. Swaps or "Occasional Sales" such as this are becoming a huge trend for vendors, because they have the ability to sell their goods to a huge concentration of customers over a short period of time. I've heard of some great ones also in Buffalo, Lindstrom and Anoka. Occasional Sales typically go down one weekend per month in a set location, and the swaps are annual and plentiful. Again, dealers only bring their best stuff, and are makin' huge deals by the final day of the sale.