Trash to treasure

A voice rises out of the piles of old shoes, dubbed cassettes and airbrushed pictures of Elvis and Bobby Knight.\n"You need a good chair?" asks Jo Fields, a seller at the flea market held at the Third Street Park last week.\nIt's a brown chair from the 1960s, with a masking tape price tag reading "Sit on Me $10. \nShe continually asked passers-by if they'd like to try it out, but halfway through the day, there were still no takers. \nThe Saturday flea market was the first of its kind sponsored by Bloomington Parks and Recreation.\n"We'd had people ask for this for a long time," said Darren Eads, director of the Bloomington Adult Community Center. "We already have the farmer's market, but that's just for produce. So we were just trying to provide what the public wanted."\nThe turnout at the event was small but enthusiastic, said Jeff Gruenewald, a Bloomington Parks and Recreation employee.\n"Well, there's the loyal flea market crowd," he said. "I was here around 7 to start setting up and there were already people here waiting, even though it started at 9."\nThese dedicated flea market enthusiasts set up 16 tables, featuring items ranging from the somewhat useful -- a tape deck for $5 -- to the totally impractical -- like a green World War II helmet for $4. \n"Oh it's real," said Mark Saunders, proprietor of the table. \n"I can attest to that," added his father, Paul Saunders, in the next booth over, apparently a veteran. "There's no liner in it, though. You get hit with a bullet in that thing, and it would rattle your head some."\nSome tables offered highly specialized items. \nOne sold only Avon collectibles, small glass containers shaped like log cabins and the Senate building containing cologne.\n"They're worth more if they've got the cologne in them," said Mary Popp, one of the owners of the table. \nJohn Popp, the other attendant, checked a thick yellow book on the edge of the table, which listed values for these trinkets. Most were worth $10 to 15. \nHalfway through the day they had only sold two. \n"I think people will say 'Well, we saw the nice ad about the flea market and all, but we couldn't find it,'" John Popp said. "But the day is young. I think we're more or less a museum over here."\nTable rentals ranged from $15 to 20, depending on whether the vendor was a member of Bloomington Parks and Recreation. \nBusiness was slow for the first part of the day and most tables said they were struggling to break even.\nOne of the more successful tables sold exotic fabric made in Laos. On the table were photographs of the looms and silk farms where the colorful cloths were made. \nRichard Niewohner, the seller, said he is involved with a family there and gives all the profits from the table to them. \n"People go crazy over that stuff," Jessie Gill said, motioning over to the Laos fabric from his adjacent, less-successful table. "Too expensive for my blood, though." \nIn front of him were about 20 miniature birdhouses his wife made, arranged in neat order. She did all the construction and painting.\n"All I done was drilled holes in them," he said.\nA customer approached the table.\n"You come with money in your pockets?" Gill asked him. \n"Nope," the man replied.\n"Yeah well, most people's that way."\nBut there were also some happy stories at the flea market. \nFields' ancient chair found a new home. Joe Blaylock, a continuing studies student, could not resist its comfortable features or the price.\n"She asked us if we wanted it, and we did," he said. "I mean it's a great chair. Ten dollars and it's older than you and me put together."\nAdding to the bargain, the price included delivery, Blaylock said.\nAt Paul Saunders' table, many items remained, including a saw for cutting metal, a mirror for applying make-up and a display of replica Greek coins he said he bought in the 1960s, which had "been on the wall long enough."\n"We broke even, and that's not too bad," Saunders said. "But my idea of a good day is when this table's empty. But we had a pretty good outing for our first time. It's just some of these veterans know what to bring"