Organizers expect more than 1,000 hunters, fishers, and antique collectors to arrive at the Prince Albert Exhibition Centre on Saturday and Sunday for the third annual P.A. Antique, Collectable, Hunting, and Fishing Show.
Roughly 28 vendors with more than 100 tables of merchandise will be on hand. Organizer Cathy Applegren said the hunting, fishing, and antique crowds mix well together.
“A lot of the people who hunt are also collectors,” she said. “The husband will come and look at the hunting and fishing stuff and the wife will stay on the antiques side so it makes it a fun day for a couple to come out.”
This weekend’s show is the third annual one, but Applegren and her fellow organizers started running antique shows in Prince Albert around 10 years ago. That first show featured six vendors at the hall in MacDowall, and they’ve only grown since then.
“The first show we did was kind of just for fun,” Applegren remembered. “We just gathered some friends together and did it. We had absolutely no idea it would actually snowball into what it is now.”
Trends come and go in the collectable world, but Applegren said one of the biggest has been the age of the attendees. When they started, most of the vendors and collectors were in their 50s and 60s. Now, Applegren said, a younger crowd has started to show up.
“We’ve got that 30-something looking for the mid-century modern stuff that antique collectors and antique vendors are carrying,” she explained. “It’s kind of a multi-generational thing now.”
Antiques and collectables is a lifelong passion for Applegren. She attends between six and eight antique shows across the province each year with fellow organizer Robin Gyoerick, but always looks forward to the local show in Prince Albert.
“It’s fun to buy and sell,” Applegren said.
“We just decided we’d host one ourselves. You never know what’s going to turn up for our own collection, (and) it’s fun to get together with like-minded people for a weekend.”
The 2023 Antique, Collectable, Hunting, and Fishing Show runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Prince Albert Exhibition. Admission is free for children under the age of 12.
