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The few crowded buildings on Sunday mornings in Mount Airy are usually churches.

But last weekend, crowds flocked to the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company's activities building for its inaugural flea market selling only firefighter paraphernalia.

"It's crazy. I sold out so far ahead," organizer Steve Lichtman said of the vendor spaces.

Firemen's boots and jackets lay on the floor under tables, while crates of books, figurines and toys crowded tables, as people chatted while sifting through the aisles.

Sunday's event was the first time that the fire company has done the flea market, though the event has been common in other parts of the region.

"There's been a very successful one in Damascus for multiple years," Lichtman said. "They stopped and we thought we would pick up the ball."

Lichtman solicited vendors at other shows and on Web sites.

"I figured if we build it, they will come," he said.

And come they did, with spaces selling out shortly after Christmas. Lichtman said the event, which will be annual, will spill to the outside next year, using pavilion and outdoor spaces.

Vendors paid a fee for their table space and admission was $1 for patrons. The fire company made about $400 on the fundraiser, and had about 250 people in attendance.

"A lot of firefighters collect fire collectibles," he said motioning to the room.

People came from as far as Ohio and South Carolina to check out the event. Joe Roberts, a Charleston, S.C., firefighter was at the show after hearing about it at a convention in Florida.

"I've already made one trip to my car," said the collector who has gathered various firefighter memorabilia — around 300 pieces that fill up a room in his home.

Lichtman himself is a collector, with 10 antique ambulances.

"They're like potato chips ... you can't have just one," he joked.

He said the hobby is deeply related to his job as a paramedic at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport and volunteer work with the Mount Airy Fire Company. "I'm a paramedic, it's what I do," he said, saying celebrating the history is a way to connect with his interests.

"Some people travel, some people golf, some people knit... hey, I have antique ambulances," he said.

It is not only fire apparatus parts, clothing or patches collected, but even picture of fire trucks and apparatus were a hot spot at the sale.

Bob Gearhart was one of multiple men deftly flipping through boxes of photos on one table. Fire engines in action, fire engines at the firehouse, fire engines in parades, new and old, the images were quickly passed by the Hagerstown resident who was sifting through box one of six on the table.

The Halfway Volunteer Fire Company volunteer, who also handles history for the organization, said he someday expects to be doing what the vendor was. He himself takes photos of the machines, often attending parades for the photo ops.

"It's a part of history ... keeping the spirit alive," he said, saying the history of the service was important, adding that he has uncles, cousins, and his two sons are both in the fire department. "If I ever won the lottery, my wife would leave me, but I'd probably buy an antique fire truck."

Hamstead resident and Owings Mills firefighter, Eddie Schwartz, said he likes to collect anything fire related, including his six fire engines at home that he keeps in working condition for parades and shows. He likes to keep the vehicles, dating back to 1947, as authentic as possible.

"I'm always looking for parts; I found a few today," he said.

Schwartz started collecting naturally: his father was a firefighter and getting cast off odds and ends got him "hooked."

Many of the people wandering the crowded firemen's activities building on Sunday knew each other.

"You get to meet a lot of people ... a lot of friends," Schwartz said. "It's fun."

He said the shows are becoming fewer and fewer with eBay and online selling crowding out the in-the-flesh flea markets like the one in Mount Airy.

E-mail Angie Cochrun at acochrun@gazette.net.