This Sunday, I think I discovered one of my favorite Chicago summer festivals! Eric, our friends Ghada, Josh, and I decided to check out the Randolph Street Market Festival in West Loop and walked away with some killer antique finds.
This Chicago tradition apparently began twelve years ago and has grown into this giant European-style antique market that is beloved by locals and tourists. There were rows of tents set up with a variety of vintage goods – from jewelry to furniture to wall art to clothing – all at a range of costs, which made plenty of it in our price range. It was fun to chat with the vendors and get to know about their collections, as well as practice our negotiation skills that got us some great deals!
None of us really knew what to expect. Ghada was on the hunt for some house decor, and found some fabulous old novels to spice up her shelves. She also purchased this gorgeous sequin clutch we fell in love with. Josh came ready to step up his man accessory game, and was super successful, purchasing some long necklaces and charms. Eric and I had things we had been wanting for our apartments in mind, but mostly came to browse. Turns out, we found pieces we absolutely loved and couldn’t walk away without!
Eric found this super unique orange, foldable bar cart early on in our browsing, and went back to purchase it after realizing he couldn’t leave it behind. We were all so proud of this find. It already looks so cool in his living room, and now he has a little space to work on his bartending skills.
He was also ecstatic about this old fan he found that is now happily sitting on an end table by his couch. Eric is so into all those old house pieces and machines, it’s definitely the engineer in him, and I love that. So you can imagine the fireworks going off in his mind when he stumbled upon all the cool old lamps, typewriters, and fans galore at this market.
He had found a fan he really liked, but it was too pricy. This one he ended up getting was not only just $20, but it actually works. The vendor had told Eric it wasn’t working and he couldn’t figure out why, but when Eric got home and decided to test it out, cold air blew without end! It’s a really cool piece, and I think Eric’s new prized possession. He keeps patting it and saying how much he loves it.
Travel bug, wanderlust, can’t sit still girl over here had been wanting some sort of world map where I could pin all the places I’ve visited. I had literally just said, “I can’t buy anything, because I’m not getting a paycheck just yet,” and then gasped and walked up to this beautiful framed vintage map, with a key and everything for plotting adventures. The back even has a chart to log in trip details. It was marked $20, I got it for $15, and walked away the happiest person ever. Now just to decide where to hang it up….
As you can see by the number of pictures I included of my map, I’m obsessed. The Randolph Street Market Festival happens one weekend a month, and turns into a holiday themed market once that season begins. You know I’ll be back. I want to buy all the things and I know anyone I bring will enjoy it!
P.S. – You can follow along with these adventures before they make it to the blog – Instagram here and Snapchat username: daynareyna 🙂
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