Letters are going out now and vendor's are receiving their deposit checks back for their monthly spots. It was a great run.
My thanks go out to Werner, his wife and all the hard workers behind the scenes for a great run over the past few decades. They brought a lot of people into the hobby and kept the flea market running smoothly for our benefit and enjoyment. Werner ran "Amherst" out of his love for the people and the automotive hobby. It was never about the money. Werner's family and their crew were a Sunday morning New England fixture that put the word "Flea Market" into the dictionary.
I'm going to miss it and all the good times and people!Great memories. Hopefully somebody will get something going somewhere else in the state.
This is sad news indeed. It has been a favorite activity of mine for years. Especially the last few years i have been able to cruise up there in my 40. I collected many parts for it over the years from there.
I have been going to the Amherst flea market since 1967. I will miss it. Too bad the family wouldn't let it run this year, to give some one time to pick up the idea and find another place to hold the flea market.
devastated. been goin since '82. first trip up from boston area was in a 33 chevrolet woodie. that was the first of many excellent memories. that will be missed, but we are a tough bunch, we will bounce back. bigger and better
There's been talk of other automotive flea markets springing up in New Hampshire or Massachusets but it's a little early to judge the outlook. We can only hope.
Many years of buying and selling and LOTS of car- talk for sure. Hopefully someone will try to start a new venue, and make it 100% automotive ( leave the old clothes and lawnmowers home!)
Just a thought, Epping/New England dragway has 3-4 nostalgia meets a year where they also have a small swapmeet. I realize this is far different from Amherst's set up and Monthly routine, but it would give vendors another venue which is already somewhat established. The field is plenty big for vendors, spectator parking is on the premises and is easy to get to with no real traffic concerns. perhaps if enough people approached the track, they would open it up on a more regular basis if it starts to take off after a season or so. No matter what happens, we need to remember that Amherst did not start out as a 500 space swapmeet. It grew into that over nearly 50 yrs, this means that anything that 'takes Amherst' place) will not start out as big as Amherst. Perhaps it would never match Amherst' size. But if you could get half or more of the vendors and spectators/customers at a monthly or bi monthly location we would still have something.
The Jalopy Journal
