Western Days

This past weekend, Travis and I attended a fall festival called Western Days at Randsburg, a living ghost town near our city. This town is nestled in the hills of the Rand Mountain Range where gold and silver mines abounded way back when. For one day a year, the locals open up their quaint town to tourists who want to experience a little bit of the wild west.

The town itself has a lot of charm and a ton of mining history. Everywhere you look you can see old mining equipment and can just imagine what life was like back in the mid 1800s.

Saturday, however, the streets were lined with modern vendors selling their wares.

They had actors in period costumes putting on shows of duels and recreating the gun fight at the O.K. Corral.

I really liked his boots :)

I took a quick video of one of the gun fighting skits if you're so inclined to watch:



You could even take a hay ride down Main Street, but it was at your own risk seeing as how this poor coach was robbed by bandits at least three times while we were there!

I think the best part of my day other than spending it with my hubby was all the antique stores! I had no idea this tiny town had so many stores, but with such a rich mining history it shouldn't really surprise me.

Let's start with some gorgeous amber and clear bottles. I've started a small bottle collection myself, but I'm being very picky because I don't want to get too carried away.

Next up: purple glass. Ever hear of purple glass?

Between 1850 and 1910, Early American Pattern Glass or EAPG was made with manganese instead of lead (lead was needed for the Civil War effort). It was later discovered that long term exposure to the sun causes EAPG to turn purple due to the manganese content. Although I personally think it's gorgeous, it turns out that this type of glass is not favored as an antique and the color devalues the piece. Plus, people are actually ruining EAPG by artificially turning it purple under UV lights! GRRR! My point is to be careful when buying this type of glass and make sure it was left out in the sun by accident and not on purpose.

Moving on...check out all this glass ware! I love milk glass, and I'll definitely be coming back to this particular store.

And check out these big old wooden spools! I wanted to take one home so badly. Maybe next time.

This beautiful blue kitchen ware would look so good in my white and yellow kitchen!

Cast-iron kitchen goodies (yup, these babies are HEAVY):

I love the look of this antique stove, but I sure am glad we have modern amenities:

Pretty ceramic jars:

And last but not least, old tin cans and wooden boxes that once held explosives:

I really want one of those boxes, and I'm thinking it would make a great storage solution for my gardening tools outside. I truly enjoy taking pieces of history and turning them into fabulous re-purposed finds.

Thanks for stopping by today! See ya soon!