Glass Treasure in a Box

Sometimes the ordinary is extraordinary. Take for example these telephone line insulators. While some are rare and quite collectable you can often buy the more common glass fixtures for a few dollars a piece - sometimes by the box. At a Labor Day weekend flea market in Marquette, Iowa a vendor displayed a variety of tools, glassware and this and that. I'm always on the lookout for a photo target and was not disappointed by the shapes, reflections and colors of these simple glass jewels of the wires.

Unicorn Face Painting in Marquette, Iowa

Labor Day weekend in Marquette, Iowa means experiencing an annual flea market under the bridge which connects Iowa to Wisconsin over the Mississippi River. One of the vendors at the market offered face painting.

Kristi, a face painting artist created a colorful design on the forehead of a girl named Ella. Nearby, Ella's grandmother supervised the work. As the design took shape, I thought it was going to become a Batman design because of the color and wings, but I was wrong.

With a few additional touches, the finished work turned out to be a unicorn which Ella had selected. She was delighted with the outcome, as was her mother and grandmother.

Message in the Bottles

At the Labor Day flea market in Marquette, Iowa there are many vendors situated near the Iowa-Wisconsin bridge. Vendors sell anything and everything. On this day there was a selection of old time medicine or tonic bottles for sale, many for $3 a piece. While there were no rolled-up bits of paper in the bottles, a few contained something in them - dead bugs. That's the message.

Marquette, Iowa Flea Market Stare

A stare from a native American bust/statue/figure head at the Marquette, Iowa flea market looks over the Mississippi River from underneath the Iowa-Wisconsin bridge today. The colorful plaster was listed at $25. The flea market continues into day 3 of the Labor Day weekend event in Marquette, located just across the river from Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin.

Before Red Solo Cups

Way, way before Red Solo Cups catapulted as the de facto drinking container for casual get-togethers, the venerable Mason Ball Jars were all the rage. Guess what? Ball jars are still in high demand as drinking glasses. Blue tinted jars, from the height of canning days, are especially sought after for all occasions. Forty-some of these jars, sold at an Amana, Iowa flea market went to a bride-to-be for her upcoming pre-wedding festivities. What is old is something new. And what is something blue is apparently wedding appropriate - time to proceed to party.

You Can Get Anything You Want At Prairie Du Chien's Flea Market

Rendezvous time at Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin brings it all out; buck skinners, frontiersmen, soldiers, natives and tons of spectators. You can watch demonstrations of frontier life from back in the 1700s. You may also buy things from people dressed in puffy shirts, coonskin hats and loin cloths. Beware; there are some sights to be avoided if you want to keep your eyes intact. Mine are still recovering from the solar eclipse from a few weeks ago.

Outside of the Rendezvous parameter are scores of flea market vendors from all over the country. They sell pretty much anything you want - food, drinks, clothes, books, antiques, records, car parts, jewelry, and even gator heads. Many vendors tell stories of how they got into this business first as collectors then later as dealers.

Bearded hat guy watched over his eight tables filled with small antique and collectible items. His choice of truck was a gray hearse. He talked of being able to pack a lot inside the long vehicle which was purchased cheap. Over the three day flea market period he slept outside on the ground. In the mornings the hardness of the dry ground bothered his back. He thought about sleeping in the hearse during his last night there.

Another vendor displayed various car parts and tools from long ago. Colorful VW bug fenders drew much attention but no sales - maybe his pricing was too high.

And lastly the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man seemed quite subdued as we passed by. No doubt Gozer was plotting ways to spring to life and walk through the flea market as a giant 100 foot marshmallow fellow terrifying all – not unlike loin cloth man. My eyes!