photo by: Elvyn Jones

Mason Montee, of Peculiar, Mo., looks over a table of antique headlights and taillights on Saturday, May 4, 2019, at the 56th annual swap meet of the Lawrence Region Antique Automobile Club of America at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. The swap meet will continue from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday.

Mason Montee returned Saturday to the auto swap meet at the Douglas County Fairgrounds for the second straight year, but with a different agenda.

“I was a seller last year,” said Montee, of Peculiar, Mo., as he looked over parts for sale at the Lawrence Region Antique Automobile Club of America’s 56th annual swap meet. “This year, I’m a buyer. I cleared out the shop last year. Now, I’m going to fill it up again.”

Standing in the middle of the fairgrounds, Montee was surrounded by booths offering everything from tools to antique cars and trucks in various stages of restoration. However, Montee wasn’t finding the taillight he was looking for to help him rebuild a 1952 International pickup.

“Everybody has Chevy or Ford parts,” he said. “International is hard to come by. Maybe I can find something close enough to work. You never know what you’re going to find.”

Joe Arneson, an LRAACA member and organizer of the annual swap meet for 30 years, said visitors like Montee could pick through the booths of about 400 vendors at this year’s meet to find the elusive parts they wanted. The event, which started Friday and will continue from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday, fills the fairgrounds with vendors and shoppers each year. Arneson estimated that this weekend’s event would draw about 15,000 visitors.

photo by: Elvyn Jones

Booths offering an assortment of auto parts line a walkway Saturday, May 4, 2019, at the 56th annual swap meet of the Lawrence Region Antique Automobile Club of America at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Seated across the table from Arneson in the fairground’s Flory Meeting Hall, Ralph Reschke, of Lawrence, said the swap meet has a way of drawing car enthusiasts back. He is proof — he has attended the swap meet for 46 straight years.

“I first got involved when I brought my kids to work at the 4-H club concession stand,” he said. “I ended up buying a 1932 Ford Model A coupe. It was my first antique car. I rebuilt the whole thing myself.”

Reschke said he went on to join the LRAACA and was the club’s president “about eight times.” The swap meet is the club’s biggest fundraiser, but the annual event also benefits the county 4-H clubs that run food stands and contract to clean up during and after the event, he said. The thousands of visitors also give the local economy a boost by renting hotel rooms, eating at local restaurants and buying fuel.

“We draw people from all over the state, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa,” Reschke said.

The swap meet is more than just a place to shop. It’s also a social gathering for regional antique auto enthusiasts, said Harold Myer, who made the trip to Lawrence from Miltonvale in north-central Kansas to sell tools and unused parts from past restoration projects. That keeps swap meets popular even at a time when car restorers can easily hunt for parts on the internet, he said.

“It’s a good way to catch up with friends and find out what projects they have going on,” he said.

photo by: Elvyn Jones

Kristi Orr, of Kansas City, Kan., enjoys a snack at her booth Saturday, May 4, 2019, at the 56th annual swap meet of the Lawrence Region Antique Automobile Club of America at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.