I decided to go to the #Barrie Automotive Flea Market again this spring after a three-year hiatus. I've always gone to the fall edition whenever possible, because it’s the bigger of the two events, and it's the ultimate place to find plates. The spring Barrie was always a competitive second, before the land changed hands. But since then, the market had been smaller, disorganized, with lower-quality vendors, so I stopped going to the spring edition. This year, the BAFM group h

For the first time, I’m writing a My 2 Cents article about a plate-collecting journey before it actually happens. That’s because changes are afoot at the event park where the #Barrie Automotive Flea Market is held. On the right is the realigned park in 2015. The owner of the Burl’s Creek Family Event Park has sold the land and there are changes in progress to turn the park into a more permanent venue for concerts. Word has it that there are stages or bandshells being construc

My kids are front and centre when it comes to most aspects of my life. They both take swimming lessons, one has soccer in the summer, and we’ve got two kid-centric vacations planned, like we do most summers nowadays. I’ve been lucky enough to steal away here and there to indulge my inner geek, but my 8-year-old daughter is mature enough to tag along. I’m planning on making a hobby-related journey by myself for several days this summer – which hasn’t happened since we only had

I’ve managed a quick escape to the September 2013 edition of the #Barrie Automotive Flea market. The weather hasn’t been cooperating over the past three years, though—when things are dim and soggy on the field, there seems to be less and less to find. I had been optimistic about the weather through the week leading up to my departure, as there was nothing but sun and stars in the forecast. Unfortunately, what was a consecutive string of sunny days has been marred suddenly by

I’d been spending the spring being a good husband and father, in order to earn enough brownie points to go to the #Barrie Automotive Flea Market, where I ogle the cars, buy plates, try to avoid the junk food, and sleep poorly in a tent. In recent years, my trips to Barrie have been basically 24-hour whirlwinds: Drive there on Friday night and be home for Saturday night… but not this time. When I know that I have to drive home on a Saturday night, I feel somewhat rushed in the

Do you know what today is? My birthday? No. Your birthday? Probably not. Some obscure license plate anniversary? Well, maybe that’s getting warmer. Today marks precisely ten years that The Back Bumper has been online. I financed some HTML lessons with my winnings from a profitable night of gambling, designed a rather basic site, and launched it on the 17th of September, 1997. My 2 Cents, one of this site’s most popular features, was an original feature and made its debut with

I managed to get away to the spring edition of #Barrie this year. I love going there, partly due to its hit-or-miss nature. Sometimes you go and find a “holy crap!” plate. Other times you go and you only find wholly crap plates. This year was sort of an in-between year. Within a minute of entering, I found an excellent, all-original 1927 Ontario truck plate. The price was pretty good, although not quite a steal.* I picked it up, just to be safe. Shortly after, I landed a half

Twice a year, the big #Barrie car show and flea market happens near a place called Oro Station, on the southeast side of Highway 11 midway between the Ontario cities of Barrie and Orillia. You have to exit the highway at Oro-Medonte Line 8. When I was new to the show, back around 1996, I had trouble remembering which exit to take... Then I came up with the pun I’ve used in the title of this 2 Cents installment. When I go to the show, I typically come from the north, through O