MADISON/BOUCKVILLE — After a long winter when some of them have been either on limited hours or closed altogether, the shop owners and dealers of the Madison-Bouckville antiques and collectibles community are preparing to spring into their 2023 season with their annual Spring Shop Hop.

“All the shops are open again — everyone is back in full gear, and this is like family coming back home,” Victorian Rose store owner Lynn Harvey said. “It’s fun to decorate the shop for spring. It’s time to pack up the winter and put out the flowers, rabbits and things that make us think of spring.”

The seventh annual Spring Shop Hop is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from March 31 through April 2 along and around the Route 20 strip from Madison to Bouckville. In addition to the first-of-the-season inventories at each of the participating stores in the area, there will also be festive offerings like refreshments and raffles, Harvey said. 

In addition to Victorian Rose, those shops include Canal House Antiques, Cider House Antiques, Cobblestone Trading Company, the Depot Antiques Gallery, Madison Inn Antiques, Turnpike Antiques, Valandrea’s Venture, Wellington Woods and both Whistle Post Antiques and Whistle Post Creations, who were recently profiled in the Daily Sentinel’s Horizons supplement.  

Lindy Eschmann of Morrisville is a brand-new dealer at Victorian Rose, a Bouckville shop that boasts items from 14 individual sellers. She sells lamps, homemade shades and embellished jean jackets, among other treasures, with her Wild Roses business. 

Eschmann said she started as a customer before becoming a dealer herself — except now she will be both.

“I will always be a customer around here,” she promised. “I really have no boundaries when it comes to my love for antiques and collectibles.”

Doug Kane opened Oscar’s Hometown Diner in the Bouckville heart of the collectibles community in late 2021, so this is his second time feeding hungry Spring Shop Hop shoppers. He said over the winter he expanded the diner’s hours to seven days a week as of Jan. 1, and also now stays late on Fridays for their weekly fish fry. 

Although the winter season went well for Oscar’s, Kane said, the Spring Shop Hop marks the beginning of the busy season for him — and his own food truck will be hitting the road shortly afterwards as well. He enjoys being one of only a few eateries in the area, catering to both shoppers and dealers as well.

Kane says he likes how all of the dealers work so well together to put their combined Madison-Bouckville Promotions cooperative events together. 

“I really feel like this is a community effort,” he said. 

Harvey agreed.

“Different shops have different items, but we all work together to help people find what they are looking for if we don’t have it,” she said. 

For more information on any Madison-Bouckville Promotions event, including the upcoming June Show and Antique Week in August, visit www.madison-bouckville.com.