MISSOULA — Sunday was the day vinyl collectors in Western Montana wait for all year.
The Total Record Swap at the Missoula Senior Center happened all day and brought in multiple vinyl collections to be dig through. It cost $2 to get in, but the price of admission was well worth it for collectors looking for that special vinyl record.
"Came down here to get this soundtrack of Lady Hawke and I’m very proud to scoop this up," vinyl record enthusiast Ian Varley said. "A friend of mine came by earlier he was in line early to get it and he said they have that soundtrack your looking for and said you should come on down and I said aw I got to do it."
It’s not all about finding something you knew you wanted, vinyl collecting is also about that surprise find which is easy to do at an event like the swap
"Whatever it is your looking for there’s a lot more diversity which is cool because a lot of times if your like in a place where there are only like one record store," vendor Dusty Shriver said. "Here it’s like 30 record stores in one so you’re going to have a lot more diversity."
"This is the only guy I came out specifically for everything else it’s just kind of like you try to give it a listen and if you find yourself not playing it you can always come back and you can always put it in a box and give it away. Take it down to Earcandy you now those types of things," Varley added.
Vinyl collectors have a special vibe between one another, and Sunday's event was just another opportunity to grow the vinyl community.
"It’s one of the few things that brings the weirdos together especially people who appreciate cool things like records or music and want to support the community and this is really cool for that," Shriver said.
"There’s something fun too about just collecting coming down here and talking to people about experiences and different things. I saw Alan Parsons Project in San Salvador, El Salvador like 15 years ago and I was chatting to a guy about how funny that was and what a weird experience it was to see Alan Parsons," Varley said.
The proceeds from Sunday's event went to the Roxy which about to begin their expansion to add a new screen to the historic theater.
