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Early this month, Ed and Pam King packed up dishes, baskets, pottery and furniture chosen from the stockpile clogging the two-car garage of their Spotsylvania home.
They loaded the bounty into a truck and trailer and headed down Interstate 95. Destination? The Big Flea antique and flea market in Richmond. Purpose? To sell as much stuff as possible.
"We just love it," said Pam King.
Early this month, the Kings were among more than 250 vendors who set up shop at the Big Flea, a two-day event held six times a year at the Richmond Raceway Complex.
Some market vendors used their rented spaces to sell an eclectic hodgepodge of items ranging from sap buckets and dried flowers to Hoosier cabinets and painted end tables. Others specialized in jewelry, clocks, linens, books, furniture, glassware and antique toys.
Big Flea founder Joan Sides began her career in flea-market promotion more than 25 years ago when her husband developed a heart condition. At first, Sides stayed home to take care of him, signing up for welfare to make ends meet. She soon discovered she could make extra cash by buying items at yard sales and reselling them at flea markets.
"I'd stay home with him during the week, and leave on weekends," Sides said.
Soon after, Sides began the Virginia Beach-based D'Amore Promotions and hosted her own flea markets. Her first Big Flea shows were in Richmond and Virginia Beach. She soon branched out to North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Although a moniker containing the word "flea" might imply a venue full of such items as velvet paintings and off-brand tennis shoes, Sides' staff makes sure Big Flea vendors stock antiques, collectibles and furniture.
"We have glass from the 1800s, silver from Europe and the United States, coins, beer cans, anything collectible," Sides said.
It took the Kings seven hours to set up their display of Blue Ridge pottery, Hummel figurines and retired Longaberger baskets. They arranged dishes and collectible glassware on racks, draped tables with skirts and plugged in lamps for maximum illumination.
Even though their three-booth display was in what seemed like a premium spot at the entrance of the building, Ed King said each space is just as good as any of the others.
"Collectors walk through the whole show," he said. "They see everything."
Big Flea customers range from those looking for just the right cabinet to put in their family room to dealers on the prowl for merchandise they can resell in more upscale antique markets.
Kenneth Blankenship, who specializes in Disney items, bought three packages of Mickey Mouse soap at the Kings' booth for $2 each. When he's flea-market shopping, Blankenship invokes what he calls the Moscow rule.
"When you see it, buy it," he said. "Because in all probability, you will never see it again."
The Big Flea in Richmond attracts about 4,000 people during each two-day show, said Linda McCullough, D'Amore's director of marketing.
Those numbers are in stark contrast to D'Amore's 5-year-old D.C. Big Flea in Chantilly, which draws about 13,000, McCullough said.
"Chantilly has everything, and it's higher-end," Sides said. "It's become the largest antique event in the mid-Atlantic region."
But bigger is not always better, Ed King said. Even though King exhibits at both events, he likes Richmond better.
"It's less crowded," he said. "Shows that are too big are too competitive."
Dennis Schaible is a regular clock-and-watch vendor at the Big Flea in Chantilly, but decided to try exhibiting in Richmond this year.
The Chantilly Big Flea has been good to Schaible, who's been collecting clocks for 40 years. It was there that a "Flea Market Find" television camera crew interviewed him about his timepieces for a segment on Home and Garden Television.
This month, Schaible and his wife Joyce hauled 60 clocks and 40 watches to Richmond from their Bumpass home.
On the afternoon of the first day, Dennis Schaible was still unsure how much profit he would make.
"I don't know how to gauge this show yet," he said. "But if I sell 25 percent of my inventory, that's good."