Three Rivers Depression Glass show is back, now in 45th year

After taking a year off during the covid pandemic, the Three Rivers Depression Era Glass Society will present its 45th annual glass show on March 5 and 6 at the Quality Inn in New Kensington.

About 28 vendors will display and show off dazzling Depression Era glass primarily from the 1920s through the 1940s, elegant glass, mid-century modern and pottery.

The event will attract dealers from North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and beyond “to bring treasures not seen in the Tri-State area,” according to the society.

“The show is always a sea of colors,” said Leora Leasure, of Eighty-Four, president of the Three Rivers Depression Era Glass Society.

To entice the younger generation to experience the glass and consider collecting, the society is waiving its $5 entrance fee for people who are 30 and younger. Conversely, prices go up to $7 for the early-bird shoppers for the opening hours of the show on March 5.

“We are getting more and more young people,” Leasure said. “If I go back to my younger days, I didn’t have an appreciation (for vintage glass). I wanted everything new.”

But Leasure has noticed a difference in the younger generation recently.

“I think about our throwaway society using paper and cans,” she said. “However, that is starting to change. I’m seeing more younger people in antique malls buying glass and pottery.”

Glassware is in vogue again because of its durability and health concerns over potential exposure to chemicals in many plastic containers and dinnerware.

“It’s ‘green,’” Leasure noted. She doesn’t keep many plastic items in her kitchen and home. “I’ve gone to all glass. You can use it over and over.”

Plus, the Depression Era glass offers a beautiful range of hues and patterns, making collecting fun or adding a touch of elegance to daily life.

When Leasure has a bad day, she reaches for one of her favorite Depression Era goblets. She prefers goblets over tumblers. Leasure fills it not with spirits but Coca-Cola.

“Soda tastes better in a glass than it does in anything else,” she said.

Items at the glass show will range from $1 or $2 for milk-glass trivets to pieces worth more than $900.

The Three Rivers Depression Era Glass Society is a nonprofit with a mission to educate, protect and preserve American glass and its manufacturing history. Proceeds from the show benefit glass museums.