Shopping before sunup

EBay has done wonders for antique collectors, allowing them to swap treasures through the mail with unprecedented ease. Still, nothing gets a shopper’s blood pumping like a little face-to-face interaction (not to mention the vicious thrill of beating another collector to the buy of a lifetime). If you prefer the tangible exchange at marketplaces and garage sales over impersonal online commerce, then the 37th annual Peddlers Fair is for you.

The fair’s official hours are Sunday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., but serious collectors know that’s just a guideline for those casual browsers who wander the aisles while snacking on kettle corn. The real antique hunters are welcome—no, expected—to show up as early as they dare. Pre-dawn flashlight shopping is a ritual at the Peddlers Fair. The selection this year includes hand-cranked phonographs, old 78 records and sheet music, Bakelite items, Depression glass, china, pottery, porcelain, Hummel figurines, estate jewelry, books, paintings, advertising signs, furniture and more. If you have antiques of your own that need appraising, Antiques Roadshow-style, bring them to appraisal expert Amanda Castro. For $5 an item, she’ll let you know if your attic relics are trash or treasure.

If your friends are unable to grasp the monumental importance of hunting for vintage Hoosier cabinets, they can amuse themselves with live music by Captain and the Diva, and an array of carnival foods like hot dogs, waffle cones and the aforementioned kettle corn.

Admission is free to this outdoor fair on Sutter Street in Old Folsom. So is the shuttle service that operates from the Kikkoman Foods Inc. parking lot, located at the corner of Glenn Drive and Folsom Boulevard. Call (916) 985-7452 for more information.