August & Antiques in L'Isle sur la Sorgue

Twice a year for the last 42 years, the antiques mecca known as L'Isle sur la Sorgue has hosted an international antique brocante that attracts hundreds of vendors and shoppers from throughout Europe.  The fair fills the city park and flows out along the crystal clear, swift-flowing canal that encircles the town. I was able to make the fair in April -- on a cold, windy day threatening rain -- but I'm going to miss the one going on this weekend.  If you are anywhere in the area around Avignon, Marseilles or Aix-en-Provence, head for L'Isle sur la Sorgue.

There are about 300 permanent antique dealers in L'Isle and that number more than doubles every weekend when the village holds a very well-known antiques flea market on Sunday. During summer months in the market, you'll hear nearly as much English, Italian and German being spoken as French. The selection of antiques is both expansive and expensive -- if you're used to shopping in lesser known brocantes or vides greniers as I am.  Still, you can still find some excellent items at fair prices if you're patient. Like any market in Provence, you want to arrive early for the best deals.  The vendors buy from each other before the customers arrive and being part of those first sales yields bargains.

An old seed advertisement

L'Isles sur la Sorgue Antique Fair last Spring

Last April, I bought a half-dozen hemp grain sacks dating from World War II in excellent condition at about 10 euros each ($13) to someday be used for upholstery but now being used to store linens.  I wish I'd bought the surplus 1950s Swiss Army blankets in steel gray with red crosses on them, selling for about 60 euros ($75). I don't have the blankets but I do have the memory of the amusing exchange I had with the vendor when I expressed the wish that the Swiss military made blankets in queen size. He laughed so hard he almost gave me one.  Almost. Things were busy in the military surplus tent, but I heard a number of vendors complain that sales were slow because of the economic crisis in Europe.  The economic outlook seems a bit better now, but my friend who sells in several other local flea markets says summer is never great for business.  Tourists come in droves, but few are interested in buying any larger items to take home. If you're the exception and you're willing to schlep your purchases home, you should be able to negotiate a very fair price this time of year.    

Never too early for a glass of wine

The Sunday flea market in L'Isle dates to 1966, when just 14 vendors gathered to sell old furniture, paintings and antiques on a Sunday afternoon. A little local publicity helped make the event a great success and it continued to grow gradually over the years, picking up steam in the 1980s with an increase in tourism, continuing publicity and a strong dollar. Over the last decade, L'Isle has seen a 128% growth in sales by the permanent antique dealers and those working the Sunday market.  

Sitting in traffic or searching for a place to park on Sunday morning, it's hard to remember that L'Isle sur la Sorgue was once a tiny village of fisherman.  It was an island surrounded by marshlands that were drained by the construction of the canals that now criss-cross town.  Tourist brochures refer to the town as the "Venice of the Comtat" and in the 12th century, water wheels were built along the canals to grind flour. Later, these were used for the silk and wool industries, which made the town extremely rich. (More on the silk trade in a later post.) A few of those 72 original waterwheels survive today. And fishing for trout is still very popular on the Sorgue -- although, perhaps, not as popular as fishing for bargains.