A look inside the Woodlands Inn and Resort on Sunday, as NY Record Fairs held their annual Vinyl Record and CD Fair. Over 100,000 records, CDs, cassettes and DVDs were on sale.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
PLAINS TWP. — The Woodlands Inn and Resorts was a music lover’s paradise on Sunday, as record dealers and collectors came together inside one of the facility’s convention halls for NY Record Fair’s annual vinyl records and CD fair.
Organizer Jack Skutnik looked right at home standing amongst a sea of crates containing just about every record imaginable.
Skutnik, of Binghamton, N.Y., is no stranger to the Woodlands.
“We’ve been doing this here for probably about 30 years,” Skutnik said. “And it’s been even longer that we’ve been doing these fairs all over the northeast.”
By Skutnik’s count, around 20 record dealers set up shop both inside and outside of the convention hall. According to a Facebook post made by NY Record Fairs, the number of records, CDs and DVDs for sale numbered over 100,000.
It seemed pretty accurate walking into the fair on Sunday — look left, and it’s nothing but records. Look right, even more records.
Everything was labeled and alphabetized, and Skutnik helped a number of customers find what they were looking for at his table, or at the tables of some of the other collectors.
“I do these fairs for them,” Skutnik said of the other dealers. “Without them, there is no show. They run this just as much as I do.”
Some dealers also had boxes of cassette tapes, and concert DVDs were a popular item as well. But, as the name would indicate — records were the main attraction of the day.
“The music just sounds better, because with CDs they get so compressed,” explained John Brehm, one of the dealers. “They always sell well.”
The fair was packed with music fans and record collectors right from the 10 a.m. start time, and stayed that way throughout most of the afternoon.
Notably, there were quite a few shoppers of a younger generation, folks who may have grown up in a time where CDs were becoming the most prominent way to purchase and listen to music.
“We would say that, in the early days, it was either gray hair or no hair that came to buy records,” Skutnik joked.
One such shopper, 17-year-old Dylan Mislivets of Warrior Run, had two records he was ready to buy.
“My dad introduced me to them, and I just picked it up from him,” Mislivets said. “I’ll probably keep looking for more.”