Heart of Tennessee: Skillful CPR Revives a February Show Tradition
February 11th, 2016
Hendersonville, Tennessee
The new Heart of Tennessee Antique Show opened on February 11 with an evening preview party featuring notable dealers, outstanding offerings, and excellent catering. Last year, Nashville was Heart-less. The long-running Heart of Country show at the Opryland Hotel had ended its run in 2014. But Katherine Bovard already had a plan to create a similar event for serious collectors, and she worked hard through the intervening 12 months to sign up dealers and advertise her new venture through print and digital media.
Chuck White Folk Art and Antiques, Warwick, New York, made the old Heart/new Heart show transition with this elegant display. The copper horse and sulky weathervane, attributed to Harris & Co., was $9500; the paint-decorated blanket chest from Holmes County, Ohio (between Cleveland and Columbus), was $6500; and a mortar and pestle drugstore trade sign was $7500.
Finding a perfect venue was the first challenge, one that every Nashville show promoter has faced over the years. Returning to the old Opryland Convention Center site was not an option. The facility had more than tripled its size since the Kramers established a show there long ago, and now using that space makes financial sense for only the largest convention gatherings. Bovard decided to use the Hendersonville Expo Center, where the Jenkins management’s Music Valley/Tailgate Show was held in 2012 and 2013. So shoppers knew the way. The modern space has an attractive interior, although the suburb city is located beyond the northeast edge of Nashville.
Show promoter Katherine Bovard worked all year on the Nashville Heart of Tennessee event. She posed by the equestrian wall of Chuck White’s booth, where a carved horse head was $1250.
The great strength of the old Heart of Country was that it brought together a collegial group of excellent dealers from the East Coast, Midwest, and South. The 2016 Heart of Tennessee opened with a roster of around 55 exhibitors from 18 states and Canada. After the show, Bovard said of the preview party, “With the decorations we put up and the food we had, people were very pleased with what they saw, and the dealers had wonderful things in their booths. We sold major items.”
Douglas R. Wyant Antiques, Cassopolis, Michigan, brought singular folk art objects. The saintly wooden figure with a sheaf of wheat was $750 and sold at a later show. Below he positioned a sleek stainless steel tabletop from an industrial kitchen, which he had improved with a stronger cast-iron base, for $950. Wyant noted, “The industrial look is really in.” See more examples on his website (www.douglasrwyantantiques.com).
She continued, “I think our preview party was accepted very well. People that came just loved it; they thought the booths looked great. The response we got from that night was wonderful, because of the way the show looked for the preview. We’ve already got dealers asking to do next year’s show. I was very pleased, after the amount of turmoil I went through during the past year.”
Another hurdle had been finding the perfect dates. In this first shakedown year, Bovard held the revived show on the traditional Valentine’s Day weekend, but those dates did not coincide with The Nashville Show, the renamed Jenkins event, which took place a week later, February 18-20, at the city’s fairgrounds. Subsequent discussions between the two managements will ensure that the dates coincide in 2017.
Tim Chambers of Missouri Plain Folk, Sikeston, Missouri, stood by his antique garden statues of Artemis and Apollo, circa 1900, from Saint Louis, priced at $2950. The heart andirons on the pedestal were $750. Behind him, a farm scene game board, painted on the lid of an early 19th-century blanket box, $3500, hangs on the wall above a copy of his book The Art of the Game.
As the booth photographs illustrate, the exhibitor list included many familiar faces as well as dealers who had not been down to Tennessee in many years and a few who had never tested the Nashville market. One veteran was Tim Chambers of Missouri Plain Folk, Sikeston, Miss-ouri, who said on Friday, “We’ve been doing Nashville shows for twenty-five years, and although it’s a sad thing they could not coordinate these events, that being said, we’ve done well. I did more last night than we sometimes did at the old Heart. The core people who came last night were really interested buyers, not show-groupies. Kathy—bless her heart—has worked really hard. Last night, we had people come up and say, ‘This is wonderful.’ The catering last night was excellent—big shrimp, beef Wellington sandwiches—the food was gone. And it’s the same caterer that’s doing the lunches through the weekend.”
The name says it all. Stout’s Great Stuff, West Newton, Pennsylvania, enlivened its back wall with two scenic paintings on iron cartouches, $1750 each (perhaps from a carousel or bandwagon?) and a painted canvas backdrop, circa 1890, $835.
Sold tags appeared on the traditional country Americana that has always been a best-selling category in Nashville. Judy and Charles Warren of Stonecrop Antiques, Mt. Crawford, Virginia, had sold their Augusta County, Virginia, hunt board, which had been exhibited at the center of their booth. Karen and Charley Buckingham of Burleson, Texas, had a massive blue Canadian wardrobe in the prize spot, and by Friday it was out the door, headed to Alabama. Taylor Thistlethwaite of Glasgow, Kentucky, sold a very attractive Soap Hollow Pennsylvania chest in vibrant red, which had been marked $3800. A pale apothecary, tagged for pickup by the show’s entrance, had been sold twice on the floor and was ready for shipment to its new home.
This 1860-80 apothecary with original drawer pulls was $2400 in the booth of Jim and Sandra Sheffield of Cabin on the Hill, Georgetown, Texas.
With the initial goals accomplished, Katherine Bovard immediately began planning for 2017. As mentioned above, the first task was to firmly coordinate the dates with The Nashville Show at the fairgrounds and the Fiddler’s Antiques Show near Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. Bovard’s dates will be February 15-17, 2017. All events have posted their slots within that week. Opening dates for all three shows will be staggered. She acknowledged that customers will be pleased to have a coordinated schedule.
Collectors always seek out the carefully arranged displays of antiques by Sharon and Claude Baker of Daytona Beach, Florida. The southern pine hunt board, 1815-20, for $6200 was crowned by a fan-shaped architectural transom, $2600.
Bovard also announced a change of venue for 2017. The Hendersonville facility interior space was reduced by partitioning. When she first had looked at the building, it was one large open space, which is now subdivided for businesses. Also, she noted, “The Hendersonville Expo Center was way off the beaten path. People couldn’t see it from the main road. Everybody liked the way the facility looked inside. It was easy load in, easy load out for the dealers. It was the location they had problems with.”
As stated on the show’s website (www.heartoftennesseeantiqueshow.com), the 2017 event will be held at the new Wilson County Exhibition Center, a 45,000-square-foot facility now under construction in Lebanon, Tennessee, just off I-40 at Exit 239 east of Nashville. Bovard would like to expand the show to around 70 dealers. Although the show will have a Wednesday through Friday run next year, she plans to arrange a long-term contract for a Thursday through Saturday show in the future.
Taylor Thistlethwaite of Glasgow, Kentucky, had a bright red Soap Hollow chest for $3800; it quickly attracted a buyer. The six-gallon jar made by Zittel & Company, Waco, Kentucky, was $775.
Bovard said in conclusion, “I’ve been blessed with a great group of dealers, and they’re all behind me one hundred percent for next year, so it’s been a great pleasure working with everyone.”
For more information, contact Bovard at (330) 631-1604 or e-mail <[email protected]>.
Originally published in the May 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest
