By Susan Shinn

For The Salisbury Post

SALISBURY — Kaye Brown Hirst and Aaron Kepley are excited — and rightfully so. The 63rd Annual Antiques Show, the state’s oldest continually operating antiques show, moves to new digs this year.

It’s set for 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11 and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, at The Event Center at West End Plaza (formerly Salisbury Mall). That means that Kepley, Rowan Museum’s new executive director, and Hirst, who recently retired from that position, can grow the show, and offer more space for dealers.

Who wouldn’t be excited?

“We made the decision to move from the Civic Center, because it was just too small,” Hirst explained last week. “It was also hard to throw the patrons party there.”

Now, both the patrons party, set for Thursday evening, and the show can both be held in the same expansive space.

Best Impressions Catering from Charlotte will again provide the meal for the patrons party, with Jeannie Misenheimer and Katherine Vriesema heading up that event.

For the time being, at least, Hirst is serving as antiques show chair.

“I’m definitely OK with this,” said Kepley, who’s been taking copious notes. “It’s good that Kaye is still around to help me out with it. I imagine I’ll have to pry it away from her at some point.”

Antiques show tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the door. Tickets are available at Rowan Museum’s office, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Carolina Lily, Salisbury Emporium, Caniche, and Queen’s.

Kepley points out that while the new location offers ample space for vendors, it also offers ample parking for show visitors. Local caterer Debbie Suggs will be providing the show’s traditional delicious recipes of chicken salad and vegetable beef soup, and Barbara Lockert will lead the kitchen staff of volunteer servers.

In the past, the show was limited to about 15 vendors because of space. As of last week, Hirst had secured 25 dealers.

“We’ve been able to bring in things we haven’t had before,” Hirst noted. For example, she said, “We have one of the premiere Oriental rug dealers in the Southeast.”

That would be Dana Kelly of Dana Kelly Oriental Rugs, from Lexington, Ken.

Another new participant is James Smith, of Chips Away Restoration in Southport.

“Aaron and I both field a lot of calls from people who have chipped china or crystal,” Hirst said. “An antiques show is a great place to get things repaired, because you don’t have to ship things off. A lot of the work can be done on site.”

Other new dealers include Carolyn Blackman, a local artist and linen collector with Linen Legacy; Sentimental Era, Elina Justin, Mount Ulla, with antique jewelry, hair jewelry, and memorial items;

Also Southern Fine Arts, Scott Power, Greenville, Southern art, fine prints; Somerset Antiques, Joan Kravets, Leesburg, Va., English furniture, small antiques, silver and estate jewelry; Lavinder’s Antiques, Jane Lavinder, Asheboro, furniture, china English boxes, small antiques; Seaport Antiques, Nell Thompson, Morehead City, English furniture and small antiques;

Also Simply Elegant, Leigh Ames, Columbia, S.C., Victorian estate jewelry and gems; Plantation House Antiques, Ellyn Brannick, Rockingham, antique glassware; Broad Rock House, Vernon Creekmore, Richmond, Va., 18th century furniture, porcelains, art; Ridge Valley Tavern Antiques, Lois Moritz, 19th century furniture and art, Lynchburg, Va.

After a hiatus, longtime dealer Phyllis Prather of The Brass Lantern in Greensboro with brass collectibles returns this year. Other returning dealers include: Old Sarum Gallery, Davis Cooke and John Short, Salisbury, 19th and 20th century fine art; Anthony’s Antiques, Anthony and Carrie Fisher, Salisbury, pottery, Rowan County furniture and collectibles; The Plow Shed, Vichard and Susan Wilhelm, Salisbury, local pottery and ephemera (antique papers);

Also D.R. Grissom Collection, Donnie Grissom, Mount Pleasant, S.C., estate and fine jewelry; Beth Poindexter Antiques, Greensboro, scarves, handbags, accessories; Old Friends Antiques, Karl and Judy Killingstad, Vass, collectibles; Attic Antiques, Jim and Cora Hosse, Charlotte, small antiques and collectibles; Windsor House Antiques, Sylvia Rowell, Charlotte, jewelry, small antiques, collectibles, and art;

Also Jackson’s Antiques, Hugh and Frances Jackson, Lynchburg, Va., Canton rose medallion, English and American furniture; All That Shines, Scott Goldsmith, Charlotte, sterling, frames, Victorian silver; Vintage Phoo Phoo, Jan Lavey, Greensboro, vintage accessories; Chestnut Galleries, Paul Dunbar, Spartanburg, S.C., fine furniture and accessories.

All proceeds from the show benefit the museum’s properties, according to Kepley. “We have taken on two new properties this year: China Grove Roller Mill and the West End Development Center, which is part of West End Plaza.”

The development center is where museum staff builds exhibits, and it is not open to the public. Longtime museum properties include Rowan Museum, the Utzman-Chambers House, and the Old Stone House.

Freelance writer Susan Shinn lives in Salisbury.