The Old Red Lumberyard Junk Market

My mother and I share a love of antiques, and she has offered mentoring in the art of antiquing for as long as I can remember. This year she went with me to my first antique auction, and she taught me about the amazing Brimfield Antique Show. Now, she has introduced me to an event right in my own backyard: The Old Red Lumberyard (ORLY) Junk Market. It's a two day event held once a month from 9am-4pm on the Friday and Saturday before the 3rd Monday of the month. How's that for complicated? If you can figure out the date on the calendar, definitely stop by!

Saturday morning, Mom drove over to McKinney to pick me up. After parking at The Flour Mill, we first visited Fringe, The Event which is another monthly antique market that coincides with ORLY (and is conveniently located right across the street). Items are sold within the little shop, and even more items are spread on the lawn outside. I found the cutest antique shopping basket that I'm going to use to display cookbooks in my kitchen as well as a little bottle holder that's going to be perfect for bitters bottles on our bar cart.

Across the street at the ORLY market, there are even more treasures to be found. Booths are set up in and around the Old Red Lumberyard building (as the name suggests), and vendors sell everything from furniture to dishes to yard art to chess boards with pieces made out of antique salt and pepper shakers. You just can't tell what you might find -- which is exactly why antiquing is so much fun!



After making our way through all of the booths, our feet were tired, and we were in need of lunch. Since the market is right alongside the square in downtown McKinney, finding somewhere to eat was easy! Cadillac Pizza Pub is one of my favorites in the area so far, but Mom and I opted for hearty Texas fare at The Pantry.  With its rustic decor and local favorites like Chicken Fried Steak and Chicken Spaghetti on the menu, it seemed like an appropriate lunch after a morning spent at a Texas antique market!

And can I tell y'all that as much as we do miss Boston, it is so nice to be able to do little things like this on the weekends with our families, whether it's driving to Austin for a cookout or Mom driving over for antiquing, etc, etc. It's totally why we moved back, and it's truly a blessing to have family be a bigger part in our life these days! Here's to many more adventures in Texas!