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Cardboard boxes, milk crates and racks all packed with vinyl records filled a room made for a 300-person seated event.
Customer John Walsh took advantage of the expansive collection. As a collector with around 8,000 records, Walsh’s purchases included “Cosmo’s Factory” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and a Barbie picture disc for his granddaughter.
“It’s great to see the younger buyers keeping it alive,” Walsh said. “Vinyl has always been the way. It’s the most pure form of recorded music that you can get.”
NY Record Fairs made its Syracuse stop at St. George Macedonian Orthodox Church on Sunday, attracting hundreds of customers and offering thousands of records. The organization hosts record fairs around the northeast, including biannual fairs in locations like Syracuse, Utica and Ithaca.
Organizer Jack Skutnik has been collecting records since he was 5 years old. Skutnik worked a seasonal job and in his free time regularly went to his local record fairs. So, during the offseason, Skutnik decided to organize his own, he said. Thus, almost 40 years ago NY Record Fairs was born, with its first fair in Skutnik’s hometown of Binghamton.
“It’s nice to do something where the people that are coming here are happy to be here,” Skutnik said. “You don’t see any grouchy people here or sad faces. It’s all good.”
Walsh said his collection started with his grandmother, who gifted a then 14-year-old, long-haired Walsh his first copy of “Cosmo’s Factory,” which he still owns. Walsh said he “rescues” copies of the album by purchasing similar versions of the record, like the one he bought Sunday.
For 16 years, Walsh has co-hosted a vinyl-centered show, “The Wax Museum,” with Ronnie Dark, a NY Record Fairs vendor, and customer Mike Adams. On Sunday nights, the trio spins classic vinyl for three hours. Connected through music, the group has been going to various record fairs for over 30 years, including Sunday’s.
“When I started collecting, there weren’t a lot of young people in this hobby. I was kind of an anomaly (at the time),” Dark said. “They used to look at me silly. I’d walk up to a booth and ask for a record, and they’d be like, ‘What, are you buying it for your dad?’ And I’d say, ‘No, I’m buying it for me.’”
Packed in a 300-person room, NY Record Fairs is a centerpoint for music lovers. For customer John Walsh, the fair’s expansive collection allowed him to purchase records from rock to pop. Sofia Turci Lopresti | Contributing Photographer
Students Jetta Miller and Remi West traveled from SUNY Oswego to attend the record fair. Miller said it’s nice to collect physical media because it “keeps the music alive,” while West said physical albums allow them to revisit memories.
Jim Furlong, a vendor who’s owned Albany’s Last Vestige Music Shop for the past 36 years, called collecting and selling records a “fun hobby” that allows him to meet different people. As a record store owner, Furlong said he has seen how purchasing something they’ve been searching for can create a sense of joy for customers.
“If (customers are) looking for a particular item that they’ve been trying to find, and they nail it, that’s always a treat,” Furlong said. “When they say, ‘Oh, I’ve been looking for this forever,’ and they ask if you have it, and you go, ‘Yes, I do. And here it is.’ It’s a nice feeling.”
When Miller was last at this Syracuse record fair, they found a CD copy of “Juno” by Remi Wolf, their favorite artist. Miller called it “like the best day of my life.”
For some collectors, however, community is the highlight of the fairs, more important than purchasing records.
In the 1950s, Gary Frenay grew up listening to singles from musicians like Buddy Holly and The Everly Brothers. On the school bus, Frenay’s brother traded desserts for jukebox singles, starting Frenay’s relationship with vinyl.
“I come (to the fair) because I know that a lot of my old friends will be here,” Frenay said. “So, I come for the hang, for the vibe.”
By organizing regional events, NY Record Fairs brings music connoisseurs, like Frenay and Walsh, in one space, just as Skutnik intended when he hosted his first fair in Binghamton.
“The tie that binds this whole thing together is just music,” Skutnik said. “I might not really want to listen to your kind of music, but I understand what your music means to you and what mine (means to me).”
