When a scheduling error left promoter Bruce Metzger without a venue for his Old Xenia (Ohio) Antiques Fair, he decided to do something completely different. He abandoned the general-line show, despite its successful three-year run, and created the Ohio Country Antique Show. Held in Wilmington, Ohio, on April 2, the new event at a new location drew a steady crowd of shoppers, even with a cold, steady rain driven by gusting winds all day.

Inside the Roberts Convention Centre in Wilmington, people couldn't have cared less about the weather. Fifty dealers captured their attention with a variety of country antiques, from dry sinks to quilts to decorated stoneware. Much of the merchandise was mid-range and affordable, but that was just fine with Metzger.

"It looks like there's certainly middle ground here," he said during an afternoon break, sitting in a concession area in one corner of the show's floor.

Although he wanted to concentrate on quality, Metzger wasn't concerned with hosting just upper-end dealers. His focus was on the kind of show that most country collectors in the Midwest would feel comfortable attending, including himself.

"I'm scared of Heart of Country," he said, referring to the popular antiques show in Nashville, Tennessee. "I don't have that kind of money or knowledge. This works."

The greatest benchmark for the success of the show was sales. Indeed, things were selling—primarily smalls, from accessories to lesser pieces of furniture. Benches were among the most popular items of the day. Shoppers leaving the facility tucked them under an arm or carried them in tandem like stretcher-bearers.

When it came to furniture, it seemed everyone wanted paint, from a small green stand with square tapered legs to a pewter cabinet in blue. But this wasn't a show with the earliest and most pristine paint. Dealers were just as likely to offer something in a mid-20th-century crusty white paint as they were to have something in a purer surface.

While the dealer list showed names that country collectors would recognize, this wasn't a national who's who of the antiques industry. Participants were primarily from Ohio and adjoining states. The mix ranged from traditional country with a great look, like a pine pin-top table tagged $1350, to items so common you can find them in nearly any antiques shop or mall, such as a 3-gallon brown-over-white crock at $45. Anything that hinted of country was fair game, including an 18" board in green paint with two cast-iron coat hooks tagged $19.50.

Among the dealers with the widest selection of traditional country were Judson and Karen Fults of Lakeview, Ohio, who offered items as wide ranging as a ten-gallon decorated crock stenciled "A. Conrad, Shinnston, W.Va.," priced at $1100; a green spatterware peafowl handleless cup, $795; and a homespun show towel decorated with peacocks and urns that sold early in the day. However, the Fultses also supplemented their booth with a variety of high-quality items that fell outside the realm of Americana, including Tiffany and Steuben glassware.

Make no mistake, Ohio Country Antique Show is no threat to the well-established country shows—not Heart of Country Antiques Show in Tennessee, not Round Top Antiques Fair in Texas, not even nearby summer shows such as Fairhaven Antiques Festival in Ohio or Heartland Antiques Show in Indiana.

Instead, Metzger is setting the show's agenda on its own merits. From the corner of the room where he overlooked the event at midday, he seemed pleased with the first outing. "There have been a lot of people I've never seen," he said of the customers walking the aisles. "The dealers seem to be pretty happy, too."