By Kris Janisch
Angie Coffey traveled 300 miles to check things out at the Junk Bonanza at Canterbury Park on Thursday, Sept. 21.
Still, she didn’t have anything particular in mind.
“Just looking,” said Coffey, who came from Kaukauna, Wis., for the three-day event, which runs through Sept. 23. “I just like all the shabby chic, junky things.”
The Junk Bonanza features an array of vintage, handmade and unique wares, and regularly draws thousands to Canterbury Park. Vendors from across the country set up their booths and offer folks a chance to find singular items that sometimes defy description.
Need a wall lamp made from an old snowshoe? How about a table whose base was once a vintage Chevy’s front end? The Junk Bonanza is the place to find it.
Looking for a ladder and some shelving, Katie Hill of Lakeville, Minn., was familiar with one of the vendors and invited her friend Christilyn Hutterer to the Junk Bonanza. Hutterer said she saw a Facebook post about the event and said, “I’m in.”
They were part of the Early Bird group on Thursday morning, browsing the aisles and getting a first look at the goods.
New items are shipped in daily for the Junk Bonanza, and the diversity among the booths is startling. Textiles, metalwork, distressed windows, coat hangers with golf club heads as hooks, vintage signs, gas cans cut to look like jack-o-lanterns. It’s all here, and then some.
Tom Meidl was manning his booth on the track level on Thursday. He has been coming to the Junk Bonanza ever since Canterbury Park began hosting it.
Describing his booth as “farm and industrial salvage, with some architectural salvage to go,” Meidl said he has been interested in antiques and “junk” since he was 14 years old, and recalled riding his bicycle to antique auctions.
A Prior Lake, Minn., resident, Meidl said he enjoys meeting shoppers and chatting with people during the Junk Bonanza, as well as showing off wares from his shop, The Good Junk Garage.
What comprises his goods?
“Things I’ve found on the long, lonesome roads,” Meidl said.
If you go…
Admission:
- $10 per day; children under 12 get in free
Hours:
- Thursday, Sept. 21: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Friday, Sept. 22: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, Sept. 23: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
