Community Proposal

I would like to observe the "Flea Market/Auction Community" for our second paper. I have always been interested in the atmosphere of these settings and curious of the people who attend them. I have been to the Red Barn Auction on several occasions, but never to a flea market.

It is late in the season for flea markets, and a lot of people are going to be shutting things down pretty soon, but I have a friend who sets up a stand in the Hillsdale and some of the surrounding areas, and he assures me that I will still be able to "have an experience". This peticular community doesn't require any permission that I know of. It is a basic, show up if you want to buy something, kind of deal. I will just need to look into dates and times of upcoming events and listings. I have already talked with my friend about tagging along on the days he sets up and I will probably use him as an interview as well. The Red Barn Auction has regular hours so I am not worried about that, they are open every weekend through out the year, except for a few weeks in February. Christmas is the best time to go, it is packed and you never know what kind of stuff he is going to try and sell! I also plan on looking into Estate, car, house, and other various auctions to mix things up a little and give me a larger range of people.

My first experience with the Red Barn Auction was at age 16, and it wasn't anything like I had expected. Lets just say I wasn't warned in advance. The auction house was located in the boonies and pratically falling apart. The seats were filled with people in mostly sweatpants and flannel, chainsmoking while eating various items from the snack cart outside. I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could, but I stuck it out and eventually went back for more. It was definately an experience to remember.

I would like it look at this community from a different point of view if it is possible. I am looking forward to ovserving the people who go every week and even those "occasional" visitors like myself. Red Barn is family owned and operated, has a long history with the Rives Junction area, and I'd like to learn about it's past, the family who runs it, and how it got started.

I don't think I have come up with definitive research topics...more something along the lines of...
*researching the economy and seeing if it might have a positive or negative effect on this type of business...
*researching the types of people that make up this community...
*researching if these types of businesses have become more or less popular over the last 10 years or so...

I am not sure how my biases might affect my observations. I have only been to one type of auction and that could prove to be a good or bad thing. If I am approved on this communtiy, then we will have to see what my observations bring about.

3 Questions:
1) (more towards the business side of things) What goes into planning an prepairing for such events as a flea market or auction?
2) (in general) How does it work?
*what types of products or items will be sold?
*are there any auctions that are invite only or is it always open to the public?
3) Are there specific types of people that belong to this community?
*ages?
* race?
*gender? more male than female, or vice versa?
*class? (upper, middle, lower) is there a range?