** This article appeared in The Parkersburg News on Saturday, July 31, 2004

Glass show brings tourists to area

By CONNIE DALE

MARIETTA - Mother Nature was kind to participants in the Antique Flea Market & Glass Show at the Washington County Fairgrounds as the predicted rainfall stayed away Friday afternoon.

The show, in conjunction with the Fenton Art Glass Collectors Convention in Marietta and the Stretch Glass Show in Parkersburg, brings to the Mid-Ohio Valley collectors, sellers and admirers of an industry being kept alive in West Virginia by Fenton Art Glass Co. of Williamstown.

Collectors come in hopes of finding the rare Fenton pieces of old, said Rich Brzozowski, a vendor from Pittsburgh. Yet Brzozowski had a good day not only selling Fenton wares, but some Fostoria and Cambridge glass as well.

"I only do about five shows a year, and this has consistently been the largest," he said. "I think people here like to see the variety I bring."

Frank Fenton, now historian of Fenton Art Glass Company and past company president, finds it wonderful that the company's glass has done so well and is so highly collectible, but he wants people to remember the glass being made today will become the collectibles of tomorrow.

The Fenton gift shop at the Williamstown factory is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, and he hopes people will stop in.

"The antiques of tomorrow are being made today," Fenton said. "We hope everyone is having a good time, and we are glad a lot of people are coming into the valley for the shows and conventions."

Fenton Art Glass will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2005.

Al and Sharen Creery of Michigan have been coming to the show off and on for about 10 years.

"We have had a wonderful day and have had some great sales. People are looking for Fenton, and we have some nice pieces," Sharen said.

The hot seller for the day was a dusty rose heart-shaped Fenton dish, she said.

The Creerys started out years ago as buyers, Sharen said.

"We came to the shows and started filling up the home and the curio cabinets until they were full," she said. "Then we started selling and buying other pieces until we were on the road as vendors."

There is a lot of work involved in setting up, taking down and moving around from show to show, but the Creerys enjoy it.

"You get to know the dealers and enjoy seeing the people," Al said. "It is a lot of fun."

Joyce Joy and Bryce Hiener of Marietta are participating in their second year at the show. They said they found Friday to be a little slow in people and sales. The two are involved in antique collectibles and pristines and just decided to collect for sales at this show.

"We had such a wonderful time last year, we couldn't miss this year," Joy said.

People are really looking for plum Fenton pieces, said Joan Shoenfelt from Rootstown, Ohio. Plum was the color in the 1960s and it's very popular today, she said.