REFLECTIONS OF AN ANTIQUE SHOW PROMOTER
by Carole Berry, Twin Bridges Antique Productions

Redding, California.  Twin Bridges Antique Productions
entered the new year celebrating twenty-five years of  
quality antiques promotions in Northern and Central
California.  Founded in 1982 by Don and Carole Berry in
Ben Lomond, California, the name, “Twin Bridges,” comes
from the area of old Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz
Mountains fondly known by locals as “Twin Bridges.”  Don
passed away in 1999.  Carole has continued to build and
run Twin Bridges’.  











                        
In 1979, Don and I left Cal State University, Hayward’s Student Services and
academia behind for self-employment and small-town life in the Santa Cruz
Mountains.  Our passion for collecting antiques led to our frequent patronage of Jim
White Antiques in Ben Lomond, an antique collective.  One day while shopping at Jim
White’s, a dealer in the shop said: “you’re always buying antiques, why don’t you just
become dealers!”  Excited at the prospect of buying more antiques than we could
justify collecting, we soon rented a space in the collective.  Beginning in 1980, we
started selling at Northern California shows.  While at our first mall show, we were
unhappy with some of the logistical details of the promotion.  I remember Don saying,
‘we could do a better job than this’, then saying,  we could do a better job than this!’  
Drawing upon transferable skills from promoting events for the University, we began
exploring the idea of promoting antiques shows.  Don wanted to  approach Capitola
Mall in Santa Cruz, a successful regional shopping center in our area.  I thought a
Mall would be way too big, that we should think about a hotel or a small hall, but Don
was confident that the Mall would provide the best venue for our first venture into
promoting antiques shows.  In the Summer of 1982, we promoted our first show at
Capitola Mall.  The show was successful and marked the beginning of our new
career.  

Beginning in 1983, we expanded promotions to a variety of enclosed shopping
centers and paid admission venues from Albany, Oregon to Las Vegas, Nevada,
averaging between twelve and seventeen shows per year. During our twenty-five
years in business, Twin Bridges’ has promoted shows at twenty-five enclosed malls,
ten paid admission charity events and one outdoor street fair.  For many years our
most popular paid admission show was at De Anza College in Cupertino (Greater San
Francisco Bay Area) benefiting the De Anza College Disabled Students Program.  
When we started the show in 1983, we were concerned that customers would not
want to attend a paid admission event when they could go to a mall show or an
outdoor street fair with no admission fee.  As a result, for every paid admission we
gave the customer a rebate coupon of equal value which could be used like cash
toward any purchase at the show.  At the end of the show while the dealers were
packing and loading out, I would go around with cash and pay the dealers for coupons
collected. This turned out to be a very successful promotion for us.

Twin Bridges’ longest standing Mall show is Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights
(Sacramento, CA area).  Now in its seventeen year, this popular biannual regional
event has survived as many mall shows have become memories of days gone by.  
With increased corporate ownership of malls, there have been fewer promotional
opportunities in recent years.

In the Fall of 2004, I accepted an invitation from the Board of Directors for the Historic
District in Folsom, CA  to promote my first outdoor event. One of the main complaints
from old-time dealers and collectors was that there was a lot of new merchandise and
arts and crafts at the show. It was really developing a ‘bad’ reputation. I surveyed
dealers and learned that most favored an age and authenticity policy similar to that
employed at my other shows.  It has been a pleasure helping restore this forty-year-
old regional event to its previous glory.  We continue to see increasing support of this
event by old-time collectors and dealers who are excited about coming to Folsom.
TWIN BRIDGES CELEBRATES
TWENTY FIVE YEARS: 1982 - 2007