Logical Collectibles’ Brennen Sutton and Bearded Comics and Collectibles’ Michael Ritter hosted a card and collectible show at the Crawfordsville Armory last month. The show featured more than 30 vendors from the Midwest. Well over 200 guests searched through boxes of cards, purchased gifts and traded memorabilia throughout the day.
Sutton, who has seen tremendous growth in his Linden-based store, wanted to host an event to bring area collectors together on a larger scale. His store has already held several flea market-type functions in the store’s parking lot and packed card trading nights every month. However, as the business has grown, so has the need for larger gatherings.
“We get at least five to 10 new customers a week just from road traffic along US 231,” Sutton said. “There are many more collectors in the surrounding area than known. Area collectors want to have places to meet and trade their treasures.”
Best known as the “CSM” (card shop momager), Bunny Sutton, Brennen’s mom and part-time shopkeeper, added, “We are in a desert area of these types of shows. Large shows can be found in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Danville, Illinois. It was time to have a large one in our own community to draw people together.”
Michael Ritter from Bearded Comics and Collectibles agreed. Ritter has been in business for five-plus years and has participated in big events like Comic Con, so he knows the demand is out there.
“I wanted to help create an interest in the medium and share my experience. Most of all, I wanted to give kids something fun to do in our area.”
The armory affair gave Ritter a forum to meet those goals. His booth space was busy all day.
Crawfordsville Middle School students Braydon Kiger and Carson Scott affirmed it was the first show for both of them and were glad it was local so they could come. They were looking for Steph Curry basketball cards and enjoyed looking through baseball and football items too.
Charlie Kraus and Collin Bryant came all the way from Greensburg to sort through the card boxes and check out the various types of merchandise.
“We saw a notice about the trade show on a sports memorabilia social media site,” Kraus said. “We drove over and were impressed with the quality of the items here. It has been a good day for finding stuff.”
Happy’s Game Store, another local business, was on hand and reported it was their first time as a vendor.
“This is a great first trade show for us. We are thrilled with the turnout and exposure for our business.”
Happy’s Game Store offers different themed game nights every night of the week and welcomes everyone to check them out.
Vendor Russ Evans from Greencastle was at the show to part with family collectibles. His dad collected die-cast cars, and he began collecting cards in the early 1980s. At first, he started collecting cards as a hobby with his young son. Eventually, he was hooked on the pastime too. His accumulation has grown quite large, and he said it is time to move it on.
Other unique vendors included RailSplitters Authentics, specializing in signed sports memorabilia and athlete signing days, and the Fiber Menagerie, a self-coined nerd crochet artist.
Additional significant show days are planned for Feb. 10 and March 23 at the Crawfordsville Armory. Details can be found on Facebook pages Logical Collectibles and Bearded Comics and Collectibles. Admission is free. Some vendor space is still available.
