Round Top 2026--Debs' Pictorial Essay

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Last week I made what has, since 2017 (and excepting 2020,) become my annual trip (which I've written about several times!) with my daughter to the Spring Antiques Show in Round Top, Texas. What is more fun than a road trip with one of your favorite people!! (Just for a little brush up on Texas geography, Round Top is in central Texas, about halfway between Austin and Houston and a good ways south of Dallas. The drive takes us about four hours.) 

"Round Top" is actually a collection of venues scattered around the tiny town, but the jewel--and one of the few ticketed venues--is Marburger Farm. But golly has Marburger changed in the last decade! The March issue of D Magazine led with "The Dallasification of Round Top," meaning it is now considerably less about antiques and more about designers and fashion. Here we are in our Round Top duds.

I'm barely scratching the surface in my hat (absolute necessity because of the sun) and bandana, while Kayti is totally rocking it, squash blossom necklace and all.

In 2021, a Dallas real estate developer bought Marburger Farm, and the spring show was the soft launch of some of their changes. They've moved existing buildings, installed more permanent tents, put in walkways and landscaping and a new permanent covered food area--that last one is a big improvement! We liked most of the changes, but some of our favorite vendors were missing. 

A view of the new "square."

Inside a new tent, which are now three aisles instead of two.

Now if they would just put in giant fans! It was so hot.

Here's something I would have bought if I'd had money (a lot!) or space.

These panels were original artwork, not photos. I especially loved them as Rick and I have been watching the Beatles Anthology and had just seen the boys wearing those gorgeous Sergeant Pepper's costumes.

And something I could have bought and regret NOT buying:

This was a vendor's personal collection of much-loved Jan Karon novels, which I adored but hadn't thought of in years. The vendor only wanted $40 for the entire set, but I was worried about space in the car--and space at home, so after looking at them twice, I passed them up.

Here are some things I would NOT have taken for any amount of money.

I mean, seriously, who would want that? And it was a couple of thousand bucks!

Ditto this one.

And this one, although if you were going for kitsch...

Not for sale--the local law enforcement.

Last year there was a theft and a chase!

Day 2 we visited The Compound, a new venue that we absolutely love. Check out the website! It is so charming, with great vendors and a beautiful setting.

Also, Blue Hills, one of long-time Round Top faves. We also managed something on our Round Top bucket list: Champagne from the vending machine in The Compound! Here's Kayti with the Champagne machine last year.

And in the little area seating nook, this year. We visited with some nice ladies from Dallas while we sipped from our plastic cups.

There was no Feast in the Field at Rancho Pillow this year, but we were happy to hang out at some of our favorite restaurants in Round Top. Here's the patio at Prost, which has a huge outdoor wood-fired pizza oven. The evenings were gorgeous, and the sky was so bright, away from our big city light pollution.

We missed a couple of other venues we like, and Junk Gypsy, but we ran out of time. We really needed three days!

My big finds were not antique-y--a couple of Peruvian alpaca pillow covers for our living room sofa, a kantha, and some plants. Oh, and a very pricey tomato, cucumber, and sage candle!

But who knows what next year might have in store?

Dear Reds and readers, are there any road trips in your future? And do you like antiquing--or "junking" as some folks are more likely to call it?

Round Top Rolls Around Again--Deborah Crombie

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have to admit that I have NOT been writing this week, and to apologize for being absent from the blog since Monday, because the end of March brings not just spring, but the spring antiques show down in Round Top, Texas. This has become an annual event for me and my daughter, Kayti, and I look forward to it all year. I've written about Round Top in the past, and apparently I've been persuasive enough that my friend Francine Mathews decided to see for herself and joined her sister there. Two other friends, also first-timers, attended as well, and everyone had a terrific time!

Our big event was the Marburger Farm Antique Show, which requires tickets. There are more than half a dozen enormous tents filled with different vendors from all over the country. The tents are set up in a big field in the central Texas rolling countryside, which is so beautiful this time of year! And it being central Texas with the usual unpredictable spring weather, on Tuesday, the opening day, it was HOT. Hats, sunscreen, and comfy shoes are essential, but even being prepared, we just about melted this year. 

But it was cooler inside the tents, and the vendors go all out to make their booths appealing.

Many of the vendors sell lots of different things, and it pays to look carefully. One booth might have furniture, china, vintage clothes, and jewelry, for instance. Or you might see things that you can't imagine somebody would actually take home, like this enormous shell covered urn.

And many things that you (or at least I) would like to take home, like this handsome pair of dogs.

(And, no, I didn't. I didn't even look at the price, but I'm sure it was way over my budget, and that's assuming I had anywhere to put them.)

Marburger is only one of many places to shop in and around Round Top. Here, Kayti found the champagne vending machine in a new venue we discovered this year.

Here's something I thought Rhys should have to remind her of Georgie's granddad.

And something I resisted buying.

These were circa 1920s bulb forcing vases, and I loved the cobalt blue ones and thought one would look gorgeous in my kitchen. Unfortunately, there were really expensive, so I resisted!

Here's what we did come home with, however!

Two hundred miles further south means plants get started earlier, and we can never resist "the plant lady's" beautiful pots and baskets.

Now, after that little mini vacation, it's back to work on the book for me. But nothing is wasted for a writer--maybe one of my characters will have a giant purple shell urn. 

Or at least a few garden gnomes...

Reds and readers, what sort of things on offer would tempt you?