Over the weekend, a number of vendors packed the busy Event Center to display their merchandise, talk with interested shoppers, and spend some time in the Malad Valley.  Most of the vendors were returning to the venue, having found it a great experience during past shows.  The common connection between all of those participants was their appreciation of the energy and enthusiasm of organizer Bryon Lyons.

“Bryon is awesome,” Christina Lillie said.  Lillie runs Wysteria Sage and Vintage Menagerie in Pocatello.  “He’s always a lot of fun to work with.”  Lillie’s booth has a wide variety of items, from vintage clothes and jewelry to craft items representing a selection of items from her physical store on Pocatello’s Main Street.  

Other vendors operate businesses which primarily travel a circuit of shows and festivals, focus on on-line sales, or a combination of multiple approaches.  

Robert and Jackie McConaughy from East Meets West Antiques and Auctions are a couple who spends their time together in the antique business traveling to various towns around the region.  Malad is one of the stops they look forward to.  “It’s a great little show,” Robert says.  “We’ve always done real well here.  Enough to bring us back, that’s
for sure!”

Around the venue, a shopper with an eye for the lovingly curated antique, pop culture memorabilia, western craft creation, or almost anything else is likely to find something tempting them into parting with their money.  Robert Valdez has been bringing a booth to Exit 13 in the past few years since it began with a range of vintage toys and collectibles that can’t help but catch the eye of anyone who has been a child in the last 60 or more years.  

Bettie Marble’s table, in addition to southwestern style jewelry, had on hand a full still, rumored to be functional but untested.  Brian Burger from Hands of Time in Pleasantview, Utah, had a number of antique items, including a range of luxury watches.  And the list of possible finds went on and on.

In addition to the antiques, Troy Allen from the RACOON club was on hand selling raffle tickets to support the club’s potential move into a new building following the Forest Service decision to move the location of the repeater they had been operating as part of the county’s emergency response network.  The raffle prizes include a handmade bell by Doug Adams, as well as a handmade quilt.  The RACOON (Radio Amateur Club of Oneida Neighbors) meet the first Thursday of the month in the Search and Rescue building, and run a radio check in on frequency 448.950 Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. President Bill Drury can be contacted for more information on joining the club or purchasing raffle tickets.

The Exit 13 show is held twice a year in the spring and the fall.  Expect to see some of the same vendors, as well as new faces later in the year!  “It’s a great location,” Marble said.  “People here are fun to talk to, and they’re very discriminating in their buying.  They know what they’re looking for!”