Mary Emmerling Comes to Town

Book Signing & Special Guest                            

Photo: David Meredith

Mary Emmerling 

Fort Worth Show

    of Antiques & Art

March 3,4,5, 2017

www.fortworthshow.com

Imagine this: I am sitting my office in New York, planning my very first antique show. It was called “Country Comes to Town.” My idea was to bring in 50 rough and rowdy non-urban dealers into the very urbane upper East Side of Manhattan for great stuff and great prices---and for a great cause.

My mentor, Irene Stella, said: “Jan, call Mary Emmerling. She is doing some new things. Maybe she would come to the show.” In the New York Times I had seen Mary Emmerling’s row of cowboy boots in her high rise apartment. I had even been a fan when she worked at Mademoiselle Magazine. She was running an American antiques store on Lexington Avenue and she understood  “Country Comes to Town” all right.

So I called Mary and she answered, a little sleepily –did I wake her up? I told her about the show. She was so gracious. She couldn’t come then, but she wished me luck and said she would like to come another time.

Fast forward 25+ years, and Mary Emmerling is coming to the Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art on March 3,4,5, 2017. During the years in between she became one of the most successful and loved design leaders, a champion in the world of antiques and a powerful muse for all who would learn the great design gift: Mix it Up! Her career includes helping to shape House Beautiful and Country Home Magazines, as well her own Mary Emmerling’s Country Magazine, an HGTV show –and perhaps a little known venture: Antiques Extra.  I’m a true fan and still have most of these now rare and rarified issues.

Photo: Jeremy Samuelson

  

What made them special? Her down-to-earth, interesting, light-hearted approach to enjoying your home---her sense of the value and style of a simple country table, alongside an Eames chair with a little leopard fabric thrown in. 

Over 30 top-selling books later, Mary will sign copies of her new book, Eclectic Country, which brings together formal, industrial, Mid-Century Modern with primitives. She will have a booth at the Fort  Worth Show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday March 3,4,5, 2017. Book-signings will start at noon daily. Mary will also offer a selection of her other titles and merchandise she has collected to sell.

The first half of the new book tells Mary’s own story of growing up an east coast Yankee and falling in love with the American West, not to mention her own cowboy. The second half of the book showcases 6 homes in the Round Top, Texas area that span generations and bring Mary’s love of  mixing it up into a fresh look for today. The homes range from The Vintage Round Top to Rachel Ashwell’s The Prairie.

As Mary puts it: “In the late 1990s I was the Creative Director for Country Home Magazine. We started with country, cleaning it up, making it creative to inspire young people to start collecting. Then we started adding in mid-century modern chairs and contemporary accents to liven things up. And then everyone else started copying us. The new book tells that story, plus I wanted to add a fun factor to decorating. Eclectic is fun and it includes a focus on younger shoppers and home-owners.”  

The book features several exhibitors in the Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art: Neck Collections by Polly Hitt, John Petty Antiques, A Wilder Place in Time, Utopia and Lizzie Lou. It also credits Rollen Hills Moving & Delivery, on-site delivery and shipping company for the Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art.

Mary, Wendy Lane & Della Orr-Harter

Over the intervening years, Mary befriended me at antique shows from Santa Fe to Nashville to Marburger Farm. She identified with my goal of traveling in the antiques business with a baby, Miss Della, who traveled with me until she started school. Even now you might find Della starring in an episode of Flea Market Warriors or doing photography and social media for The Fort Worth Show or skipping school to help me at a Country Living Fair. (We only skip a little.)

 So it is with a full heart that my family welcomes Mary and her husband Reg Jackson to Fort Worth, coming full circle, yet staying fresh and fun. Isn’t that the secret to everything?

Meet Mary Emmerling at The Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art on March 3,4,5, 2017. Mary will be in her book signing booth starting at noon each show day. 

Tickets are available at the show at the Will Rogers Memorial Center or in advance at www.fortworthshow.com  

Antiquing with Della – Napless in New Mexico

In thinking of Mary Emmerling, our 2017 Special Guest

 at the Fort  Worth Show, I found this from a while back.... 

Reprinted from Antique Prime Magazine, June 2001

So we went to New Mexico, crossing over the hot Texas panhandle to the early Spanish outpost in North America, with its ancient culture and living pueblos and cool air and billboards that read: “Stuckey’s –Rattlesnake Heads, Tamales and Cappuccino.” We’re ready for anything. I’m 18 (months) and our Big Red van is loaded to the roof with antiques to sell. Mom’s got a cooler with pimento cheese and Willie is on the radio. This is the life. And I plan to stay awake for every minute of it. 

Our first stop is Albuquerque for The Great Southwestern Antiques, Indian and Old West Show, held every August at the Lujan Center at the state fairgrounds. Mom wheels me with my stroller into one room with 27,000 square feet of every old west thing you can think of, from a $60,000 classic Navajo blanket to a $6 Fred Harvey postcard from old Route 66. Some of the best old west things are the 150 dealers themselves –like long, tall Jim Hislop with his handle bar mustache working a heavy trade with even taller W.T. Bailey over a pair of early cowgirl gauntlets. W.T., who is my friend and who can just flat out-talk Jim, ends up with the gauntlets.

Another friend of mine is the man with the long white hair and the top hat, J.D. Scott from Oklahoma. He has a booth full of big 1940s Roy Rogers movie posters and a showcase full of Skookum dolls. I really like those Indian dolls with the real blankets, but no one ever lets me play with them. Still, this is a great show. Mom is looking at the most beautiful Navajo rugs she has ever seen in the booth of Mark Winter who runs a trading post on the Indian Reservation. I myself am more inclined to the table where Roger Baker shows off all the Bowie knives and gold rush and saloon antiques. I have never been to a saloon, but my big brother studied them in college.

Mom wants to visit with Cindy Rennels from Oklahoma and see all the quilts and blankets she has brought. You’d think with all the soft rugs and blankets and quilts that I would be sleepy. No luck, mom! No naps in New Mexico! Before we leave, we say hi to Mary Vidano from Colorado who travels all year long searching for Old Hickory furniture and western advertising items. We’ll see you up the trail tomorrow in Santa Fe, Mary. And that’s where we’re headed.

So Big Red takes us North, climbing on cruise control, up, up through a landscape that mom says looks like the moon covered in sage. We stop to pick some smelly pinion branches to put in our hotel room. Up, up, finally we emerge on the high desert with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains spread out behind the city of Santa Fe. It is cool in the afternoon. It is August. There are old Spanish style buildings and little winding streets. Texans, when they die, want to come here.

Big Red pulls into the graveled driveway of the Silver Saddle Motel with its weekly rate and flower garden and little tables set up  outside to drink coffee. I myself don’t need much coffee. We’re staying upstairs in a stuccoed room with our own kitchen and tiny bathroom. We carry up our suitcases and my bed and the pimento cheese and the pinion. Then we go downstairs to find my friends Brenda and Jarrell. They’re dealers from Texas too and they are going to help take care of me. Why does someone have to take care of me? I’m fine! And still no naps!

We all drive downtown to the Sweeney Center which will be the home of the Old West & Country Show, the Ethnographic Show and the Indian Art Show. Tonight all us Old West dealers are gathering in the parking lot, waiting to unload. Jarrell pulls out a cigar and heads off to do some horse tradin.' I don’t see any horses. I do see real silver saddles and chaps and spurs and even some 1950s kids’ cowboy stuff lined up on dollies to go into the show. You can’t play with those dollies either! Finally, we go in. Jarrell helps Mom set up and Brenda and I just try to not get run over.

After we set up, we now have some room in Big Red, so we head for Target to buy lamp shades to put on the lamps mother brought to sell and pillows. My mom makes pillows out of antique weavings. She sews them at home and takes them flat to the show to make extra room in the van. We go to Target to buy pillows almost every night to stuff the pillowcases and sew them up. They like me at Target. We get to the Silver Saddle motel and eat our pimento cheese. I watch Jay Leno and Mom makes pillows. I make an exception and go to sleep.

The next morning the Old West Show opens with preview breakfast. The first customer is Alan Edison from Edison’s Old West Store in Ketchum, Idaho. Mom says Alan always buys “off the top of the show”---he knows exactly what no one has seen before and he buys it first. He gets the big blue horse hooked rug that we found at Brimfield -- a whole other story--  and the folk art wooden cowboy that we picked up early one morning in Virginia and the pillows stuffed last night. My good buddies Mary Emmerling and Reg Jackson come to buy mom’s Saltillo pillows. My mom remembers Mary from New York. Mary brings over Wendy Lane and makes her buy a pillow too.  Wendy runs a vintage store here called Back at the Ranch. That night, after show, and just before we go to Target, we go stand on the bench and peek in Wendy’s store. If you go in the daytime, it’s open.

Right to Left, Me, Wendy Lane, Mary Emmerling & Pillows

Mom sells hard for two days. She meets Bettie and Loretta from San Antonio who pull down every single pillow. Loretta sits on the floor and says “I’m not sure which one.” Three hours later, she and Bettie buy ten of them and promise to see us again, which is also a whole other story.

During the slow time of the show, Mom visits with other dealers like our friend Clarice from home who has a great Saltillo weaving for sale and Steve and Julie from Dallas (Julie likes me) and Pam who Mommy and Daddy went to High School with. They are all set up at the show near the room where the Back-Rub Lady works. You can get a professional massage at the show. Very Santa Fe. We don’t get one, but maybe someday….

Mom sees a 1920s cowboy tapestry and calls a customer on her new cell phone. They say, buy it. So it’s bought and sold at the same time. That’s lucky. I got lucky too when Mom’s old friend from New York, Joan, came by to meet me for the first time. She bought me a red sweat shirt that says “Paris.” Red’s my best color and that’s not Paris, Texas!

After the show, we pack and pack and load and load. Finally we go out to eat at Tomasita’s, our favorite place, with Brenda and Jarrell and other dealers who celebrate the show and swap tall tales while I tear up all the napkins and eat the tortillas. No pimento cheese tonight!

The next day is our day off, so we –guess what? –make pillows! We also go to the flea market by the Santa Fe Opera where I get a red Pueblo Indian girl’s dress with rick rack. This is the life!

That night we all meet again in the Sweeney Center parking lot to unload for the Ethnographic Show. Now you may ask me what is an ethnographic? An ethnographic antique is anything made by hand from any place in the world –Asia, Africa, the South Seas, Latin America. Mom holds down the USA with African-American quilts and painted game boards and hooked rugs and braided rugs …and pillows.

The show is huge, with a big preview party Friday night. GUESS WHAT? Daddy comes! He hands Mom a beer and takes me away to see beautiful and amazing things –--religious artifacts, Spanish colonial furniture and silver crowns, textiles, jewelry, tribal masks and the wonderful Santos that Mike McKissick displays on the wall of Waterbird Traders while I dance on his counter top. Nan and Dave Pirnack from Colorado have the most colorful booth with a huge painted birdcages and folk art carved figures. Our booth is next to the kitchen where sometimes dealers will bring customers to see things that are special. Daddy and I saw someone one roll out something that had yellow feathers like Big Bird on the kitchen floor and say, “It’s $100,000.” I think that’s a lot.

Steve looking happy, Mike looking wary--- of me?

I visit everyone!

  

That night we take a walk up Canyon Rd to see the galleries and adobe houses and bungalows. It starts to rain, so Daddy goes back for Big Red and Mom and I sit on someone’s porch bench and watch a lightening storm over the mountains. Mom thinks about how hard the early Texans fought to make sure Santa Fe was part of Texas and how much harder everyone else fought to make sure that it wasn’t. She remembers coming to Santa Fe with her family and staying in the big La Fonda Hotel. She remembers coming later in college and staying there again –that time for the ten cent admission to the ladies room.  Very Santa Fe.

The next day there are kids everywhere at the Ethnographic Show. Some are just enjoying the colorful antiques and some have grown up coming to these shows with their parents, like me. Many are running around with their own cell phones and walkie-talkies. They are hustling--- cleaning showcases, fetching food for dealers, carrying packages. One boy about nine showed me a wad of cash he made working at the show. Daddy has to fly home, so during pack up Mom hires that boy to play with me for 2 hours for $10. But packing takes longer than 2 hours. At midnight, we are the only ones left, pulling out of the parking lot. I managed to stay awake again.

The next day we are heading home. We had a great time in New Mexico. Before we leave, we visit the talking parrot at the plant store next to the Silver Saddle. A talking parrot!  Life doesn’t get any better than that. Good bye, New Mexico. We’ll see you next summer, but that’s a whole other story.

Until then, happy trails and keep looking for the big one. Your friend, Della.  

Dealers Coming to The Fort Worth Show

I've been on the road recruiting top dealers for the March 3,4,5, 2017 Fort Worth Show. Here's a peek at a few of the 150 antiques and art exhibitors who are coming....

Hector the Collector will be back with an oversize booth of industrial fragments & primitive furniture for creative living.

The Whimsey Shoppe with all things French, great form and scale, mix it up with other styles or keep it French. 















Introducing Exhibitor _Boho_Mo with lighting like no other!

                          
Welcoming back the Cool Stuff Store. Take a look...vintage art canvas affixed to antique drawers. Functional and Fun!

Stay tuned for sneak peeks until March 3,4,5, 2017, which will soon be here! 

Tickets on Sale Now  

Fort Worth Book Sale this Week!

The 54th Annual
Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art
will welcome the
Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library
as a Benefit Booth at our show on March 3,4,5, 2017.

Why wait? This week the Friends of the Library will open their famous fall book sale to the public on
Friday Sept. 23 (9-4)
Saturday Sept. 24 (9-4)
Sunday Sept. 25
(12-4, with books $15 a box Sunday).

Look for bargains on thousands of books, DVDs, CDs, Children's items and more. Admission to the sale is $1, free for kids and Friends members. 

It's all held near the Friends regular storefront in the Wedgwood Village Shopping Center at 5314 and 5318 Trail Lake Drive in Fort Worth.

The sale is so big that it requires two extra storefronts!

More info at FriendsFortWorthLibrary.org 

In the meantime, save the dates Fri, Sat, Sun March 3,4,5, 2017 for the Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art. See you then!   fortworthshow.com

2017 Fort Worth Show Dates & NEW DAYS! Fri, Sat, Sun March 3,4,5, 2017

We Heard You! 
The 2017 Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art
will blast into Cowtown for the 54th year on 
Friday, Saturday and Sunday
March 3,4,5, 2017
at the Will Rogers Memorial Center. 

The stars have lined up to place the show a full two weeks before 2017 Spring Break for North Texas public and private schools. To celebrate, we'll be open on a Sunday, as well as Friday and Saturday (no Thursday show this year). And you can come! 

150 Top Exhibitors of Antiques, Vintage and Art of all styles and eras. Industrial, French, Mid-Century Modern, English, American, Jewelry, Garden & Art, Art, Art !!!

Stay tuned!
Our 2017 website launch with Benefit Booth and Show Theme is coming up soon.    
Until then, Happy Trails and enjoy summer.

After the Primary, but still Presidential - JFK Hotel Texas Suite 850 Door

Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art to Feature Hotel Texas JFK Door for Sale March 3, 4, 5

 

Imagine having the door to John F. Kennedy’s last hotel room as your bedroom door. Or your office door. Or displayed as prime presidential history. “Suite Eight Fifty – It’ll be Famous” ran the headline of the Fort Worth Press before the day was shattered in Dallas. That historic door returns to Fort Worth for the March 3, 4, 5 Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.

 

In storage for 37 years, the Kennedy door will be for sale at the show, along with documentation that includes the original receipt from the wrecking company that removed it from the hotel in 1979, the door keys, original newspaper clippings that reference the door and its removal from the hotel, as well as November 1963 newsreel footage of the door at the time President and Mrs. Kennedy stayed there.

The sale of the door comes in a season of renewed fascination with all things JFK, including a Stephen King mini-series and the world premiere in Fort Worth of the opera JFK this spring.

 

The door to Suite 850 is a special door design known as a “Valet Door,” opening from both sides. The guest staying in the room could open their side of the door and place clothing and shoes for the valet to access and return from the outside of the door. While Suite 850 was not the best suite in the Hotel Texas, the Secret Service selected the suite for the well-documented reason that it had only one door.

 

Fort Worth citizens know well the story of local art collectors using station wagons to transport art from the Amon Carter Museum and from private homes, which they hung in Suite 850 for the enjoyment of the Kennedys. That story remains one of the few bright points of the November 21-22, 1963 presidential visit to Texas. 

 

At the show, visitors will have a chance to view a little bit of American architectural and presidential history up close and personal. Perhaps the door to Suite 850 will be coming home to Fort Worth for good.

Additional JFK memorabilia at the show will include campaign posters, original photos from the Fort Worth visit and the complete Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce file on the Hotel Texas JFK Breakfast, including correspondence and seating charts. 

 

The Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art also began in 1963. Along with the  Kennedy door, at this year’s 53^rd annual show, look for 150 exhibitors from California to New York to Florida, plus England, France and Laos. The show offers antique and contemporary art, as well as antique and vintage furniture from France, England, America and Italy, lighting, design, jewelry and accessories from ancient to Mid-Century Modern.

 

The Fort Worth Show on TV! See you March 3,4,5, 2016

The Parenting Center -- Benefit Booth #2 at the Fort Worth Show March 3,4,5

The Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art welcomes The Parenting Center as one of our two Benefit Booths at the March 3,4,5, 2016 show. Their booth at the show will be decked out in blue, the color of “Child Abuse Prevention Month” coming up in April. Here is their story.  

“The Parenting Center invested in me, and that gave me the inspiration as a teen mom to invest in my child.  I grew up with a single mom who never could be around, and I think that I would have done the same thing without the skills that The Parenting Center taught me.”

Babies crying, teens sulking, temper tantrums daily. These things happen. Multiply them by: job loss, no immediate family support, teen parenthood, financial setbacks or the isolation of a single parent with no experience in how to change a diaper, much less everything else that is part of being a parent.

Anyone who has ever been a parent can identify with all of these things. That’s why 40 years ago, citizens under leadership of the Junior League of Fort Worth, came together to found what is now called The Parenting Center.  At that time, child abuse and neglect were at an all-time high. The mission of the Parenting Center became to prevent child abuse by helping to train, educate and support successful families.

That is to say: their strategy is to help prevent child abuse before it begins.

A child depicts a family, right, before counseling and, left, after counseling

And it’s working. Each year The Parenting Center helps 14,000 to 18,000 clients of all backgrounds and economic levels in North Texas.               

Parenting Center programs include:

A confidential Parent Advice hotline

Family and individual counseling

The “Empowering Families Project” - This program offers pre-marital and marital education that qualifies a couple for a discount on their marriage license through the "Twogether in Texas" program. The program also works to strengthen relationships and integrate support services such as financial coaching, case management and employment assistance.

Classes in the Community - The Parenting Center provides classes in places like Cook Children's Medical Center, Babies R Us and Fort Worth Libraries, in addition to classes offered at the Parenting Center building on West 5th St. These classes delve into topics that families need to succeed, such as how to deal with the stresses of raising a family and learning tips and skills to manage misbehavior. Other topics include single parenting, step-parenting or raising children with special needs. Co-parenting classes help families going through divorce or separation learn how to rebuild relationships that are beneficial to the child. These classes are a tremendous community resource for North Texas.  

The Parenting Center’s executive staff are enthusiastic and eager to expand services across North Texas. Most of them, such as Executive Director Paul Gravley and Director of Development Crystal Cardwell are parents themselves.  As Paul puts it, “The ultimate goal of The Parenting Center is to eliminate child abuse and neglect” by working with partner agencies to provide positive education and comprehensive support to families in North Texas.

Or as a recent client reflected, “Without the help of The Parenting Center and their great classes I have attended, my family and I would still be dealing with anger, trust and communication issues.  The Parenting Center has given me the tools and guidance to help put my family on the right track to building a healthier environment at home.”

In addition to the blue décor at the Parenting Center’s booth at the Fort Worth Show, plans include:

--- “Sponsor a Pinwheel”– for a $1 donation, you can write your word of encouragement to a parent or family. These pinwheels will be offered to Parenting Center clients, with your word.

--- Purchase beautiful (blue) Peter Millar Golf Shirts and learn about The Parenting Center's "23rd Tee It Up Fore Kids" Golf Tournament on October 3, 2016 at Shady Oaks Country Club.

--- Take home literature to increase community awareness of the signs and many types of child abuse and neglect

--- Put your name in the hat for a raffle for Japanese Palace Dinners for 4, at Fort Worth’s iconic and fun family restaurant on Camp Bowie West 

--- A sale of select antiques and art donated by Fort Worth Show exhibitors and friends, to benefit The Parenting Center.

So plan to stop by to learn, shop and lend a word of encouragement at The Parenting Center booth at the Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art March 3,4,5, 2016, which will soon be here!

Learn more at theparentingcenter.org 

The Parenting Center

 2928 W. 5th St. Fort Worth, TX 76107

817-332-6348

facebook.com/TheParentingCenter

TheParentingCenter.org

Sneak Peek One Month from Showtime!

When the Fort Worth Show comes to town March 3,4,5, here's a peek at what you'll see:

---The Kennedy Door to Hotel Texas Suite 850

--- Jewelry, Vintage Fashion & Handbags, including from England, France & Laos 

  

  

--- Primitive, Repurposed & Industrial Antiques 

 

--- King-size Karl Springer table 

--- Picasso & Rembrandt Etchings   (no sneak peek, sorry!)

--- Mid-Century Modern Everything!

--- French, English, Continental, Silver, Rugs, Jewelry, Lighting, Textiles

 

--- Vintage Guitars & Toys from 1920s - 1960s 

 

---  Jewelry, Lighting & Art, Art Art!

Stay Tuned for more sneak peeks soon and 
our announcement of the 22 exhibitors in the show's "Art Dept." 

See you March 3,4,5, which will soon be here!
Tickets on Sale now at fortworthshow.eventbrite.com

Pet Adoption Benefit Booth - The Saving Hope Foundation

Pet Adoption Booth at the Show March 3,4,5

The Fort Worth Show of Antiques and Art welcomes the Saving Hope Foundation as one of our two Benefit Booths at the March 3, 4, 5, 2016 show. Instead of finding antiques in their booth, you’ll see the wagging tails of pets available for adoption with the help of the Humane Society of North Texas.  

Who knows? Maybe you will make a friend for life at the Fort Worth Show– or lend your help to the work of the Saving Hope Foundation. 

My hunch is that most people who like antiques & art & homes also love animals. Many of you reading this may live now with pets, including perhaps pets that you have adopted--- or that have adopted you. We live with three “walk ons.” Wouldn’t have it any other way.

North Texas has an over population of unwanted animals and crowded shelters. As Saving-Hope co-founder Gloria Moncrief Holmsten puts it, "Our goal is to save as many animals as possible." The Saving Hope Foundation raises and distributes funds to provide pet owner education, free and low cost spay/neuter and vaccination services and other steps to keep animals in their homes, especially in neighborhoods where the greatest number of unwanted animals are located. They work to find new homes and to reduce the pressure on area shelters. In this way, they believe that as many animals as possible can be saved and adopted into new homes. Learn more at www.saving-hope.com

The Saving Hope Foundation started three years ago with the rescue of one dog, Hope, who had been tortured and left for dead just west of Fort Worth. Her story inspired the work that continues today. Over the last three years, Saving Hope has raised over $500,000, using it to provide free and low cost spay/neuter and vaccination services to over 12,000 animals. With community support, they expect to provide this help to another 4,000- 5,000 animals in 2016, as well as to advocate that North Texas families and individuals rescue their next pet.

The Saving Hope Foundation creates and supports partnerships with other local groups such as the Spay-Neuter Network, which operates the “Hope Mobile,” taking free and low cost pet medical services into communities, and the Texas Coalition for Animal Protection. Learn more at   www.spayneuternet.org     www.texasforthem.org

At the Benefit Pet Adoption Booth at the Show March 3, 4, 5, you will meet The Saving Hope Foundation’s partners from The Humane Society of North Texas.

Founded in 1905, the HSNT proclaims a mission of “Kindness, Justice and Mercy to Every Living Creature.” Their staff and volunteers will help show visitors “meet and greet” the animals and process the small amount of paperwork to adopt one of the featured future pets. 

All animals in the Pet Adoption Booth will be healthy, vaccinated, spayed or neutered, micro-chipped and ready to go. Learn more at www.hsnt.org

Can’t Adopt Now? Lend Support!

If you can’t adopt right now, you can still support the Saving Hope Benefit Booth by...

 ---Purchasing a t-shirt

 ---Shopping the selection of donated vintage items

 ---Buy or support the fantastic, brand new Hope & Friends Book, a coffee table-style book with page after page of photos of pets and their families.

The Hope & Friends Book is a major fundraiser for the Saving Hope Foundation each year. Families and individuals can purchase pages in the book to feature their pets, with all funds going to the Foundation’s work. This year the cover art on the book was painted by artist Cindy Holt. Last year it was by President George W. Bush. You can also buy a print of the covers at the Benefit Booth at the Fort Worth Show.

The book is filled with great quotes and photos of all kinds of dogs, a few cats and even a pet Longhorn. My favorite quotes in the book are:

“You save an animal once, and they save you a hundred times over.” 

                 --Kit Moncrief, Co-Founder of the Saving Hope Foundation

“Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the focus of their love

 and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a

 doubt the best deal humanity has ever made.” –Roger Caras

“If there are no dogs in heaven… then when I die,  I want to go where they went.”

                                                                            --Will Rogers

Solving animal abandonment, abuse and shelter overpopulation requires multiple strategies. Working with local government, shelters and animal aid and rescue groups, The Saving Hope Foundation brings together and distributes funding to provide vaccination/spay/neuter services to help residents afford to keep their animals and to reduce the number of abandoned animals. 

At the same time, they work to encourage and support adoptions so that new homes are found and families find new pets. 

The Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art is honored to provide a three day public setting where future pets can come out into the community to seek their future families. Come by and say hi!

Our other 2016 Benefit Booth supports The Parenting Center.  Stay tuned for news on the work that The Parenting Center does for children and families in Fort Worth.
See you March 3,4,5, 2016 at the 53^rd Annual Fort Worth Show of Antiques & Art, which will soon be here!