Antiques show features appraisals, automobile exhibit

BANGOR – The 52nd annual Antiques & Giftware Show & Sale, sponsored by the Junior League of Bangor, is undergoing a major overhaul this year. Not only is the JLB’s major fund-raising event moving to a new location, but it is going to be featured on a cable television show.

Held at the Bangor Auditorium for many years, the show will move to Spectacular Event Center on Griffin Road in Bangor on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will be fewer antiques this year, but a selection of complementing giftware and an antique car exhibit have been added, according to show co-chair Mary Morin Lyon.

The live filming of “The New England Antiques Appraisal Fair” on Saturday is expected to attract people who want to have their family heirlooms and country auction finds evaluated by the show’s team of experts. Similar to the highly successful public television series “The Antiques Roadshow,” the show airs on WPXT Channel 51 on Adelphia cable in Greater Bangor.

“This is another evolution of the show, which has grown and changed over the last half-century,” Morin Lyon said. “The decision to move was an economic one and allowed us to utilize Spectacular Events to suit our needs. There are not as many dealers doing shows now. They’re doing business differently. We decided to the keep tradition of having antiques and augment it with other things.”

Proceeds from each appraisal fair benefit a particular charity, according to the producers of “The New England Antiques Appraisal Fair.” Earlier this year, the show filmed an event in Deering.

A live auction Friday night will kick off the three-day show, featuring former WABI television news director Don Colson as guest auctioneer. Denise Keniston, one of Colson’s former co-anchors at Channel 5, will be host for the live filming of “New England Antiques Appraisal Fair.” The show airs at 9:30 p.m. Saturdays on WPXT-51.

Keniston is a Bangor native and graduate of Bangor High School. A 1988 graduate of the University of Southern Maine, she began her career in Yakima, Wash., working as an assignment editor and camera operator for a year. Eighteen months later, she returned to her hometown as new co-anchor at WVII Channel 7. Colson selected her from 105 applicants to co-anchor the WABI newscast less than a year later, but Keniston left that job after 14 months.

She next worked at a station in Spokane, Wash., before moving to Portland to anchor the WMTW Channel 8 news. Keniston founded her own production company after working as press secretary for Maine’s Forest Heritage Coalition, which opposed the November 2002 forestry referendum.

Two years ago, she formed a company to produce two local antiques-related shows, “Treasure Hunt” and the then-named “The Maine Antiques Appraisal Fair.” Her long-range plans include a show focused on gardening and one spotlighting weekend getaway destinations.

Locally produced entertainment is a rarity in Maine because of the small size of the television markets. Most stations focus their local efforts on news and sports programming, and get their entertainment shows from the networks or from syndicators.

“I know that within the TV industry people think that local programming is too time-consuming and too expensive,” Keniston said in a February interview. “But I think there’s a niche to be filled. So I started talking to people at [local stations] about how it could be done.”

Keniston films shows at flea markets and antiques fairs, such as the Junior League’s, throughout New England. She leases equipment from Channel 51, paying for her airtime and selling her own advertising. Saturday’s event will be the first time the show has been taped in Bangor. It also may be the start of a new Junior League antique show tradition, according to Morin Lyons.

Another change for this year’s JLB show will be in who’s doing the cooking. Traditionally, JLB members have prepared and donated food for the cafe. This year, Spectacular Event will cater.

“We’ve really simplified our lives by not cooking this year,” said Morin Lyon, who along with 17 other committee members began working on the event nine months ago.

The 52nd annual Antiques & Giftware Show & Sale begins with a Preview Evening Reception and Auction from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, at Spectacular Event Center, 395 Griffin Road. Admission to the preview is $30 per person.

The sale runs 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Show admission is $5, and an appraisal fair will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The appraisal fee is $8 for one item, $15 for two, $20 for three and $5 for each additional item.