TRAVEL Antique hunting unearths treasures WE ARE antique shoppers. It’s a hobby —- we don’t buy very much except certain rare china pieces, but we both love prowling. Aside from the expensive items, it’s amazing what items interest collectors. Much of the stuff you threw out of the old summer cot- tage is worth money, that old table (spooi-legged, covered with 12 coats of paint) — who knows? As we trek through the shops, we learn all sorts of trivia, meet some eccenirics, nerds and nice people. Antique hunters can be chatty, but not when they’ve zeroed in on a prize. Bargaining is a big part of the fun. The marked price is rarely the bottom line. ‘“‘What is the lowest price you will accept?”’ is a common question. Dealers often have one or two special fields and they can be fascinating to listen to, providing they’re not busy and you ap- proach them on a gaod day (not one in which the roof leaked, some shopper arrived with three awful urchins or the shelf of Spode china bit the dust). This month, I learned about a three-times-yearly show in Bur- naby at McPherson Centre, 7325 MacPherson Ave. Look for the spring show, March 18, 19 and 20 and the summer one, June 17, 18 and 19. Nearly 100 dealers exhibit, mostly from B.C. but from other parts of Canada as weil. _ We've gone antique hunting all over the world tut a recent find tops anything we've seen in a concentrated area. And I thought Snohomish was a ski resort! Shows I don’t know much about skiing, either. If you like antiques and want to take a short (two-hour) Sunday drive, head down 1-5, turn easi at Everett on Highway #2 towards Wenatchee. Snohomish is about four miles from Everett. Follow the sign, and turn off #2 to the right. Drive right through the town — you are looking for First Street and it’s the last street before you Barbara McCreadie TRAVELWISE reach the ‘‘Leaving Snohomish’’ sign. We made a stop at Townsend’s Deli, corner of First and Avenue D, for a quick lunch break before we got down to shopping. The first question: ‘‘Is there anywhere to stay?’’ Answer: B&Bs only (out for us — we're smok- ers). Vil include the list I have at the end. We ended up staying at the West Coast Everett Pacific, just on the west side of I-5, one block south of #2. It’s quite new, utilitarian, has a restaurant and cost us $60. Not memorable. There must be 350 dealers in Snohomish! That, of course, doesn’t mean 350 shops. About 150 (plus or minus) are in the Star Center Mall. Almost all the shops are co- operatives with many dealers gathered under one roof, with one cashier, The variety of merchan- dise is awesome. We visited almost every one, teturning on Sunday morning be- fore carrying on to Seattle. Many of the buildings have several floors and we were exhausted but contented — such a variety. The entire old downtown sec- tion of Snohomish is antique shops housed in heritage build- ings, with a few restaurants added here and there. We found the prices fairly rea- sonable, if you know what you're looking for. For example, | found a replacement for the plate !.broke from my prize dinner set — new, it’s $100 here. I paid US$49, mint condition. This is also a great place to buy fillers for old sets of silverpiate, discontinued patterns. We found about a dozen booths with every old pattern you could imagine. Hint: Shop around the whole town before buying anything. For example, just as a running check, | priced knives from my mother’s old set of *‘Adoration’’ and found a difference of five bucks. I also spotted three identical crystal devilled-egg plates, in three different shops but the prices varied from $9 to $17. We did a lot of looking before we bought and [I’m confident we didn’t overpay. Unfortunately, I can’t detail our buys — Santa would be irate. Qur three favorite larger malls are the Star, the Victoria and the First Bank. The furniture in First Bank is lovely. Brian fell for a wonderful old rocking chair but I pointed out that no family with five cats should ever own a rocker. In the basement, they have a number of - flawlessly refinished old bathtubs on claw feet. Pve a weakness for old coal- and-wood ranges but just to look, not to cook. Anyone who has ever had to fire up one of those on a frosty morning can understand. Most: shops are open every day but the Sunday hours are short — noon to five is most common. A lot are open until 8 p.m. There is a limited quantity of Street maps available but I was told that the Antique Dealers’ Association is in a bit of a finan- cial bind and they haven’t reprinied. You can get along fine without one as almost all the shops are in a five-block line, both sides of the street. We didn’t eat in Snohomish ex- cept for that deli sandwich. Next time, we'll try one of the |” two recommendations we got from one of the smaller shops: For good ‘‘standard American”’ food, Tne Cabbage Patch at 11i Avenue A, and Mardini’s on First Street (European). See Shop page 29 Stocking Stuffers ay atBCAA gs Sea Bands (for control of motion sickness) Non-member $16.95 « Member $13.95 BCAA @® Park Royal Shopping Centre South Mall . Pe paeaiey GOING AWAY FOR] THE HOLIDAYS Don't leave your pets in a strange place. Leave them at home with personalized care and} « attention from a .pet care professional. | We offer exercising, feeding, medical] care as arranged and companionship. 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