By Marilyn Miller
Well, yes, it’s nearly Halloween. And there were some “Strange” things happening in Minden the weekend of Oct. 18. It was the third International Brick Collector Association’s “Brick Swap” of 2024. And it was hosted by Daniel and Susan Strange, residents of the Blue Run Road north of Minden.
According to the IBCA’s website, there are 700 members of the group in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia and France.
A total of 85 of those folks (75 members and six guests) gathered in Minden, coming from as far away as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Alabama, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
The weekend started off with a pre-swapping get-together on Friday afternoon at the Strange home. Then 65 people packed into the Crawfish Hole in Dixie Inn that evening to enjoy seafood, steaks and other Louisiana favorites.
On Saturday, members arranged their vehicles in two lines (rear-ends facing the alleyway created), stacked their bricks behind each vehicle and at the blowing of a whistle, began swapping bricks of all kinds featuring lettering, pictures, dates, patterns, logos and more.
“We do not sell bricks, we just swap them,” Dan explained. Following the swap-meet, an auction took place, with over $2,000 raised for the club.
“At the conclusion of the auction, members dined on sandwiches from the Broken Bean. Then they just sat around and visited…they really enjoyed themselves. Most of them needed to start driving home, but they didn’t want to leave.” Of course, this wasn’t Susan and Dan’s first swap meet. They also hosted the brick swap in 2015. And, since they are now both retired, they travel the nation attending other brick swaps.
“It was a very good ‘swap’ – everybody loved it,” Dan added. “I think it went very well, and it was the second largest I’ve taken part in.”
Terry Taraba of Texas is president of the IBCA Board. Dan is treasurer. If you are interested in joining these brick collectors, just send $20 to Dan Strange, 1450 Blue Run Road, Minden LA 71055. The fiscal year for dues is January through December.