After several sales, hundreds of thousands of patrons, and even more junk, Junkstock is moving. It's bittersweet for some of the sellers but first, they have one more sale.
"I've been junking forever," Sharon Werner from A Little Rustic in Valparaiso, Nebraska says.
Werner has a new home for the new five days. Its filled with thousands of visitors and vendors that share her mantra, 'one man's junk is another man's treasure'.
Vendors and organizers started parking and unloading for this weekend's Junkstock Tuesday morning. More than 180 sellers from shops all over the country-15 states-will peddle their pieces. Some come in 18 wheelers, with stories high of refurbished junk. Most vendors also sell scraps for projects that decorators and DIY'ers love.
"This used to be a top for feeders for animals, and it would make a real neat light," Werner holds up, that would look like something to shuffle aside to most shoppers.
When Junkstock first started, it was 20 small vendors with plenty of space on the 35 acre former dairy farm. They've added sales and now have three sales each year. After five years, Junkstock is no longer a baby calf. It's a prized heffer that's out grown the dairy farm. Now all of this something old has to find something new. Organizers are moving to a bigger space about six minutes west on West Dodge. They'll bring along as much of the old Junkstock as they can: the iconic piece sign, a refurbished VW van, a bus made over to look like the Beatles' yellow submarine. But some of the old structures, like an old barn and house can not go. They don't know yet if they'll be able to salvage the wood from the new landowner.
Vendor Stephanie Patzer tears up a bit thinking about it. She's been around since the first sale in 2012, representing her store Second Helpings Boutique.
"I'm sorry. It gets a little bittersweet for me," she says.
For now it's all about stocking for this weekends sale. Vendors look forward to the reunion of all the folks who fixate on fixing up, and celebrating how the love of a little junk that has turned into quite the jubilee.
