Fiesta Tent Sale!

Twice a year the Fiesta Tableware Company, formerly Homer Laughlin, has a tent sale - where Fiesta fanatics from across the US descend upon Newell, West Virginia for absolute bargain prices on the colorful Fiesta dinnerware. My bestie and I went for the first time 10 years ago. This year, my bestie and friend Kissy decided we were going to go together! Girls trip!

People at the tent sales are fans of Fiesta. The sale lasts three days -- and some go every day. The sale is on pieces that are seconds, though the factory store has great discounts on first quality during the sale as well. Each day there are new dishes put out for sale in the tents. People line up early in the morning, as the sale starts at 8:30. The three of us were in line by 7:15am and we were numbers 51, 52 and 53!

Loving Fiesta is something either you get or you don't. I don't know what it is that makes it click. I inherited by love of Fiesta from two very dear friends who collected vintage Fiesta and as I started to buy them Post - 86 Fiesta, I started putting one in the cart for me too. I shared my love with my bestie and Kissy and they were hooked. My bestie shared it with a friend who needed new dishes and liked yellow - and bammo, she was hooked! Since then, the three of us have converted a handful of other friends into fellow Fiesta addicts. It starts with a bowl or a color and pretty soon your cabinets are full!

Big crates, full of dishes surround the tent -- dinner plates are two dollars each! Every year Fiesta releases a new color or two and retires a few -- so if you are lucky, you find retired colors or the newest colors, each day is a treasure hunt! This years newest color was Sky and there was a lot of it! The retired colors were Butterscotch, Lemongrass and Mulberry... those were a bit harder to find. (I did find a butterscotch dinner plate!) They also retire and introduce various pieces, so you find some of both of those as well.

The three of planned our strategy as we went to the sale -- we all prepared our wish lists, pieces and colors and shared our top 4 or 5 items with each other. When we got into the tent, we took off in different directions and put things in our carts, periodically we met in the middle and exchanged or put back items we no longer wanted. It actually worked quite well! There are many dealers that show up and buy a tremendous amount of dishes, you have to get to the bins before they clean them out! Restaurant owners come too to get good quality dishes at rock bottom prices. To help you in the sale, when you walk into the sale they give you a cut sheet with prices. We always save these so we can mentally add up how we are spending! At some point I just stopped counting.

One trick that my bestie and I learned in our first sale was to bring a pair of old socks or cloths for wiping dishes -- which are covered with clay dust to make sure the imperfections aren't too bad. What is really nice is the Fiesta people wrap and box your purchases -- which for me as I was traveling, made it really easy to get the dishes home unbroken. Of course we had to stop in the store and look at the newest pieces and items that were not in the crates at the sale. I spent more in the store than at the tent sale!

Right across the Ohio River from Newell, West Virginia is East Liverpool, OH. In downtown East Liverpool is a huge antique mall in an old department store, with four floors of antique booths. The Ohio River valley is home to many famous potteries including Hall, Harker, Edwin Knowles and Thompson. If you love American pottery, chances are it was made in the area. The antique mall has many booths with Ohio River valley pottery. My grandmother's wedding china was made by Thompson, so I always look for it. You find vintage Fiesta, retired Fiesta and new Fiesta in the booths. Oh, if money and space (and the ability to get it home) were no object!

So, after we finished at the tent sale and factory store were done we headed to the antique mall. We all picked up a few retired color and retired pieces. Bestie's family all has favorite colors, she's always on the hunt for family favorites. Kissy is looking to round out her collection in colors and pieces and I am always looking for Persimmon (my favorite) and to round out my collection.

As it turns out, I bought a lot of Jade, Turqouise and Poppy. I brought bubble wrap with me and wrapped pieces in bubble and in dirty clothes, I packed them in my two carry-ons, I double boxed more and checked them on the airplane. I am proud to say, all pieces made it home safely.

I love sharing my passion for these colorful dishes with friends and I am so lucky Bestie and Kissy are Fiesta Fanatics!