Country Living Magazine 30th Anniversary Features 30% off Salute

9.2.08--Round Top, TX “Go to the Marburger Farm Antique Show,” says Newsweek. Go for the central Texas hills. Go for the Bar-B-Q. But most of all, go for the antiques--- miles and piles of antiques, packing over 350 dealers into nine mega-tents and twelve early Texas buildings.

This September 30 – October 4, shoppers can also go to Marburger Farm for Country Living Magazine’s 30^th anniversary celebration. On Tuesday, September 30, Country Living will host a book-signing for Marburger Farm exhibitor Robin Brown, founder of Magnolia Pearl. On Wednesday, October 1, the magazine’s editors will offer demonstrations on living with antiques, including new trends in country style. On Thursday, Oct. 2, Editor-in-Chief Nancy Soriano will tour the block-buster show, greet shoppers and host a Texas-style 30^th birthday party for the top-selling shelter magazine at newsstand.

Marburger dealers will offer their own tribute to the magazine’s 30^th birthday by a show-wide sale on Thursday, October 2. Each vendor will have the opportunity to display a bright yellow Country Living birthday card on a single antique that will be 30% off that day. When the item sells, they can move the card to another item for 30% off. “Marburger Farm is a show where antiques are priced right to begin with,” says Ashley Ferguson, one of the show’s owners. “With almost 400 items 30% off all day on Thursday, dealers are going an extra step to celebrate Country Living by encouraging new collectors and those on a tighter budget. Deals will abound.”

Also specializing in heavy, Rebecca Looten of Monsoon Imports lives in Austin, Texas, but travels year-round in India, bringing home granite and other stone artifacts from old structures. She offers carved wooden panels, some 200 years old, with floral and animal motifs that can be used as headboards or as art on walls. For Marburger Farm, “I’ve got one of the oldest collections I’ve ever seen of tribal black and white marble platters and bowels, some nearly four feet wide. And I love doing Marburger Farm.”

Of course, when Marburger Farm celebrates country style, it’s not only great American country antiques, but also Italian country, English country, Country French, Continental country, a little Asian country and what might be called industrial country. That’s not to mention the rare pieces of early Texas furniture that regularly make their way to Marburger Farm.

Tamara and Jean Provoust of Decor will offer antiques from their native French countryside, both country and formal. Their collection for Marburger Farm includes a pair of Louis XVI commodes in cherry with clean and simple lines, a 1720’s gilded mirror and 2 sideboards from southwestern France. “As we are French residents,” says Tamara Provoust, “it is easier for us to buy well from local estates and homes.” The Provousts buy at the source and price their antiques right for the American market.

Most Marburger Farm dealers sell a mix of antiques that wear well with either country or formal looks. Cheryl and Bob Daniel of Dadeville Alabama’s Plantation House Antiques create lighting out of antique bases such as Staffordshire pieces, olive jars from Greece and Turkey, wicker-wrapped bottles from Italy and stone barrels from England. Chico, Texas dealer Joy Jenkins offers shell-encrusted chandeliers, early shell sailor’s valentines, garden and architectural antiques and pier mirrors with frames embedded with antique found objects. “I specialize in heavy,” she says. “I’m shopping hard to find the most exciting antiques for Marburger Farm.”

James Herron of West Palm Beach, Florida phoned in on his way to Belgium. “I travel the world getting stuff for Marburger Farm.” His “stuff” includes 18^th century through mid-20^th century decorative antiques with a more formal bent, but “I do oddball things,’ he says. He mixes primitive American trade signs and industrial pieces with classic antiques from Austria, France and Belgium, always a completely fresh load. “I look for quality pieces with distressed, old patinas. That’s what they want at Marburger Farm and I’m going to give it to them. Last time I brought two 24-foot box trucks. This fall, I may bring a semi-truck.”

So whether you’re traveling by 18-wheeler or by compact car, get yourself to Marburger Farm. Take home a souvenir from Country Living’s 30^th anniversary or, for those larger items, use the Marburger on-site shipper. Who knows, you might get the find of lifetime at 30% off.

The Marburger Farm Antique Show runs Tues. Sept. 30 through Sat. Oct. 4, 2008, with $10 admission good all week, including free parking. Early buying runs from 10 am – 2 pm on Tuesday, September 30, for $25, with regular $10 admission starting at 2 pm. Show hours are 9 am to 5 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Saturday hours are 9 am to 4pm. Plan to have breakfast and lunch in the Marburger Cafe where food includes Ellen’s Cafe, the Methodist Men’s Bar-B-Q, Connie’s Texas Espresso Bar and Rio Verde with an authentic home-cooked Mexican menu.

For shopper convenience, Marburger Farm offers a wi-fi area, air-conditioned restrooms and The Howdy Magazine, a complete guide to Marburger Farm with show news, maps and dealer locations. See additional information on vendors, travel, maps, lodging, shipping, bus trips and special events at www.roundtop-marburger.com or call Rick McConn at 800-999-2148 or Ashley Ferguson at 800-947-5799.