Iowa City record heads rejoice; Big Grove Brewery & Taproom will be hosting its inaugural Vinyl Market on Sunday, November 11 from 2 to 7 p.m.

The event is bringing together record vendors from across the state for an afternoon of record spinning, scavenging and appreciation. The Big Grove Vinyl Market will feature local vendors, Record Collector, Analog Vault, Des Moines’ own Rogue Planet, and other Iowa music sellers.

Vinyl record collecting has seen a remarkable resurgence in popularity throughout the past decade. Major and independent record labels have taken greater interest in the analog format to provide a unique listening experience for music fans and to highlight the appeal of physical media in an era where compact disc sales are on the rapid decline and digital downloading and streaming services reign supreme.

An increase in success for independent record stores has resulted. The vinyl revival has given birth to a new generation of record collectors alongside a dedicated older generation of hoarders.

Co-owner of Record Collector, Bobby Larson spoke about vinyl’s recent comeback.

“I think it’s been a long time coming,” Larson said. “I started buying records when I was in high school and that was fifteen-plus years ago now. I would say it’s been resurging that whole time.”

He mentioned the hands-on experience of playing vinyl as one of the more appealing aspects of the format for him.

“It might be a hundred-year-old plus technology but I think it’s still fascinating,” Larson said. “There’s just some inner-kid aspect to it that never goes away.”

Record fairs have also seen a boost in popularity as a result of vinyl’s comeback. Record fairs bring together multiple record dealers, which provides collectors with a larger and more diverse selection to choose from.

Vendors often bring their more rare and unusual records to record fairs, providing additional incentives for collectors to peruse the endless series of record racks to find their holy grail or that one missing album in their favorite artist’s discography.

Larson commented on the unique aspects that record shows provide.

“People wanna see cool stuff that they don’t normally see,” Larson said. “It gets [record collecting] out into the public eye.”

Larson also spoke about how the Big Grove Vinyl Market came into being. He mentioned Brian Brandsgard, who took inspiration from other record fairs in the midwest, as being one of the starting figures of the event.

“He gave us a call and told us it was something he was interested in doing,” Larson said. “We haven’t done a record show type thing for a long time, probably ten-plus years…and so it just felt like a good idea, a fun idea.”

Larson added that Brandsgard has been conceptualizing the event for years.

In addition to a bounty of records to browse, there will also be live music performances throughout the afternoon from local musicians Dana T, Karen Meat, Crystal Cities, and Good Morning Midnight.