Happy Memorial Day

                Thank you to all the men and women who have, and still, keep our country safe

"Live IN the World, not on it"

"Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts. If you remain true to them, your world will at last be built."    ---- James Allen

and the winner is..........

Congratulations to:  Yvonne Wernet

We will contact you soon to get your Junque Gypsy raffle prize to you.

Thank you!

Holyoke Enterprise Newspaper Article - appeared on May 10th, just before our event!

Junque Gypsies offer different take on the term market

Written by Chris Lee

The Junque Gypsies is their name and repurposing is their game. Erin LeBlanc, Barb Kreider, Lucy Kropp and Rhonda Menard are the four minds behind the madness. They have fallen in love with vintage products and enjoy creating unique pieces they can then turn around and sell. “It’s just part of our lives,” Menard said. “We just do it.” A particularly unique piece is a leg of a piano that has been turned into a lamp. Another piece includes a headboard turned into a black board. Last July, Menard decided it was time to do some cleaning and hold a garage sale at her home in Haxtun. She came up with a crazy idea and called Kropp to ask about holding a market-type event during the annual Old Fashioned Saturday Night celebration. “We had hundreds of people at that event,” Menard said. They had six vendors participate. “People loved it.” She said they were asked if it would be something they were going to do again. Over the last year, the four have come together to form the Junque Gypsies. Four creative and different minds have worked well enough together to keep them a group. It’s safe to say they love it. As a group or individually, they travel around looking for ideas, items and fun. Kropp said that is probably where their name came from. In an effort to introduce arts and culture to Northeast Colorado and bring exposure to the area, the group has planned an open air vintage, antique and artisan market which will be held Saturday, May 12 from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. They said they enjoy traveling to Denver and other towns to markets, but would like to see people travel out to the plains to “see what we can offer.” As of late last week, the group had 24 vendors committed to visiting Holyoke this Saturday to showcase their goods. Many of the vendors are from the immediate area but a couple are coming from Nebraska as well. The “Burlap and Lace” event will be held at 106 S. Reynolds Ave. in Holyoke. The ladies are encouraging people to visit the event, hang out in the “Bistro” area and enjoy some food and coffee. This won’t be an everyday run of the mill market with “normal” products. The ladies are really excited to say they will have quilts, furniture, glassware, soaps, treasures from the past, tattered treasures and unique jewelry to name a few. They are hoping to stimulate the main senses by offering food, music and unique visual displays. The Junque Gypsies are looking forward to what they hope becomes an annual event. The group hopes to plan other similar events for the future. They will take part in Old Fashioned Saturday Night in Haxtun in July and Holyoke’s Country Christmas and Parade of Lights in December. Another smaller event is in the works for October as well. They are also looking for people to host them for a themed party or event. The group also mentioned they are always evolving and items at this market most likely won’t be available at the next. “There’s a lot of creative people out there,” LeBlanc said. One event really paints a picture of just how determined these four ladies are. A while back, they piled into a vehicle and set their sights on a thrift store in Denver. On the way, they hit a hawk which resulted in half of their window breaking. Determined they weren’t going to turn around, they found a McDonalds and went inside to find people who they could have look at the window to ensure it was safe to continue. After finding it safe for travel, they continued towards Denver. Once they made it to the store, some of them stayed while Kropp took her car to get fixed. Having to leave the vehicle, Kropp made it back to the store but when the shopping was done, they needed a way to retrieve the vehicle. This is when they began “scouting” random people to see if they could come up with someone they felt was safe to give Kropp a ride. This is just their free spirit at work. They aren’t afraid to meet new people. “Everyone has a story,” Menard said. “We’re just ourselves,” Kropp added. For more information on the Junque Gypsies, visit their blog at http://junquegypsies.blogspot.com or venture on over to their event Saturday.

"Where the Gypsies Create"

Thought we would take some time to profile each one of the Junque Gypsies.  Where they live, how they decorate, spaces where they create. 

This is Erin ~


Erin lives in an (almost) 100 year-old farm style house, with her husband, 11 year-old son, 3 dogs and 2 cats.

This is the (very) primitive barn, that made her want this house so badly - very small and rustic looking inside.

Wild rose bush (sorry picture came out sideways) that is growing in the corner of the backporch

 Allie

Erin works with senior citizens and found this awesome, crayon drawing a few years ago at an estate sale in California; paid about $5.00.  At the bottom, it is dated 1944.   Great find!!

Erin's office

Inspiration board that hangs over her desk.  Lots of old vintage pictures all over too.

Lots of inspirational things all over, anything she sees, she likes, picks it up and it goes in the office.  Erin loves crowns, so has them all over.

This was an awesome buy that Erin bought from Renee of Frenchman Creek - just an old church-looking cabinet, that right now, has an Angel caged santos in it.

This trunk was what Erin's husband used in military school; she added legs and turned it into a great coffee table.

Another cages santos - love this one too!!!

Upstairs bathroom

That is an old manicurist stand in the corner, it does hold her nailpolish, files, hand lotions.  The old door is also "new".  There was a solid door there, and it was replaced with this great old door; the other side is full of chippy paint (perfect the way it is)

These are also "new" doors that were installed in the mater bedroom.  Erin got them for practically nothing and knew they would be perfect!

Thank you for stopping by

Just 68 days to our next event (in Haxtun)

Junque Gypsies Present

"A Paris Street Market"

Saturday, July 21^st

8:00am – 2:00pm

Haxtun

Artisan, Antiques, Flea Market & Tag Sale

and Crepes by:

 “CrepExpectations”served with a small coffee!

And sooooooo much more......

Despite the soggy weather - "Burlap and Lace" was a huge success!!!

Thank you to all our vendors that participated - you are WONDERFUL!!!

A huge thank you to all the people who ventured out to visit us and see what "Burlap and Lace" was all about - and all the kind, sweet and fabulous comments

we are ever so thankful

From the bottom of our hearts - we thank you!!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! - until tomorrow

We continue to have faith in the weather and that it will turn out to be a great day for shopping; bundle up and come over... coffee is on the house!

We are getting ready!!!!

Be sure to get here early - and stay as long as you want

We are still counting down......

4 days - four days!!!!!!!!

Did we mention you can start your day with a crepe (some filled with chocolate and strawberries) and a hot cup of coffee; then grab a Mad Moose cheesecake on your way out to finish off your day..

1 week from today!!!!!!!

Grab your best gal pal and come early for crepes and coffee and lounge in our bistro area before you shop ~ 

Spend the day with us on May 12th

9 days!!!!  We are busy...well with everything.  Our vendors are excited, we are excited, people who have told us they can't wait for the event - are excited!!!  Our first ads starting coming out in the newspapers this week, with more next week.

Looking forward to a great day!!!!