May 12th was a busy day for Grant's Farm, but this line of guests didn't come for the beer garden or the animals.

Thousands of attendees showed up with books, jewelry, art, and more to be appraised for the 30th season of "Antiques Roadshow."

- The last time we were in St.

Louis was in 2017, which was our final year of doing events and productions inside convention centers.

And since then, we've been going to these kind of outdoor, historical, iconic American locations.

- [Veronica] Jill Giles is the Line Producer for "Antiques Roadshow."

She's one of the people who helps choose the venues for appraisal events.

- As we try to like repeat, you know, places every five or 10 years, and it's been almost that long since we've been in St.

Louis.

And we know that we have a huge fan base here, we know we draw a great crowd.

I think St.

Louis was one of our highest ticket applications this year for the ticket lottery, so we knew we would draw a huge crowd.

- [Veronica] 19,837 people registered for tickets in St.

Louis according to Executive Producer, Marsha Bemko.

- And then when you think about the odds of getting a ticket, the odds of getting a ticket for this city, here in St.

Louis, it's a little over 10%.

The city with the least amount of applicants was Salt Lake City.

It's close to 20-25% the chance of getting a ticket, because they still had close to 9,000 applicants, but you had a lot more.

(intriguing upbeat music) - [Veronica] But to come back to St.

Louis, the roadshow team had to find the perfect location.

- And Grant's Farm is one of those weird locations that checks, like, every box.

You know, it has the home that Ulysses S. Grant built, so it has deepened history, it has the estate of the Anheuser-Busch family and that legacy, so, like, a giant estate, it's also a zoo, it's also a beer garden, courtyard.

And so, it's hard to like wrap your head around how many boxes it checks, but it's a pretty cool place.

- [Veronica] "Antiques Roadshow" arrived just one day early to set up for the over 3,000 guests and 23 appraisal categories, but the planning process took much longer.

- Yes, we've been working on this almost a year with the Roadshow team.

I can't tell you how excited we are, this is such a rare opportunity.

Not only is it exciting for us, it's really a big deal for the St.

Louis community.

- [Veronica] That's Steve Byrd, the General Manager for Grant's Farm.

He says that set up for the event went smoothly and the animals are mostly used to the commotion.

- Well, that is one of the challenges.

We are a farm, right?

So, you'll see peacocks roaming around and all our furry friends.

We've had to relocate a few of them to some other pens where there's filming areas, but this is their home, so they'll be watching the show just like St.

Louis.

- [Veronica] Some animals seem to enjoy the spotlight though.

(peacock shrieking) - You know, what's special about Grant's Farm is that while I'm sitting here talking to you, you're gonna hear a peacock.

(laughs) It's a really cool place.

This is a nice, natural environment.

We like not being in the convention centers, I have literally stood in a convention center and said, "Where am I?

", and I wasn't joking.

And so, it's really nice to be in a place that gives you a sense of place, it's a nice experience for the 2,500, 3,000 people we'll see tomorrow.

(enchanting bright orchestral music) - [Veronica] On the day of the event, 3,146 people came to have their antiques appraised.

Attendees brought all sorts of items.

- Well, I brought my mother's junk jewelry.

- [Attendee] I have been down there- - Okay.

- I keep telling her to call it costume jewelry- - It's a jewelry.

- But... - When... - Well, I believe this is a Salvador Dali lithograph, that's signed and numbered.

I have another print that goes with it that's from the same series.

We're not sure really what its value is.

We got it in a estate sale for a pretty good deal.

- What I have here, this is a birthday invitation from the emperor of Japan in 1904.

- Yeah, my dad collected a lot of music memorabilia.

So we've got some Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood, Scream prints, and then a Imagine vinyl signed by John Lennon.

- [Veronica] But only some people are chosen for the show.

- We're looking for something where the price does affect the story.

I think people are inherently affected by value, but also the stories themselves often tell a much bigger story, much bigger narrative, about either America or this particular person's family, or some other thing that the audience can relate to.

- [Veronica] Sam Farrell is a Supervising Producer at "Antiques Roadshow."

- This area is known for its ancient cultures, the ancient Mississippi cultures, we might see some of that.

And, of course, this was a gateway to the West, and this is where a lot of things came through during the Westward Expansion.

And there's a lot of history here.

- [Veronica] Choosing people for the show involves a lot of hands.

- We have a system with our volunteers calling a radio, calling our central appraisal liaison, who then enters it into a system.

- [Veronica] Then Farrell looks at the notes, and his team chooses people to advance.

- [Sam] And then we move people to the green room and then to taping.

Some people aren't so lucky and they don't get picked.

- [Veronica] One of the appraisers at the event was Nicholas Lowry, who has been on "Antiques Roadshow" for 29 years.

- It's been a fantastic experience.

I mean, almost 30 years doing anything, you either have to be incredibly passionate or a lunatic to do that.

(Veronica chuckles) So, it's half passion, half lunacy.

And, sometimes, it's just, "Oh my God, that's super cool, I wish I'd known."

Something's like, "Holy cow, that's super valuable."

You don't know what it is.

- Yeah.

- And so, you have to approach it with a childlike innocence.

(Nicholas cackling) (Veronica chuckles) (bright intriguing orchestral music) So thousands of people come through the door today, of which maybe a hundred actually get filmed.

So an appraisal that we do tableside here is gonna be very different from an appraisal that we do in front of the cameras.

And if we're doing an appraisal in front of the cameras, you want to get a little bit of the history, a little bit of the acquisition story, the origin story of the piece, and then the value.

So it's like you distill it down to a three-point appraisal to make it, you know, much better for the viewing audience.

- [Veronica] "Antiques Roadshow" also recruits some local crew and appraisers.

- I feel very fortunate that we're in St.

Louis, my hometown, and I'm hoping that I can find some examples of regional art that I've worked with so much in the past.

- [Veronica] Susan Kime is the President of Link Auction Galleries.

- So I've been in the auction business for 30 years, and I've handled a lot of local artists work.

So, selfishly, that's what I hope to see today.

- [Veronica] But the appraisal price doesn't need to be big for attendees to have a good time.

- This one's actually a more popular print, but this one goes for a couple of thousand dollars, and that this one can go for a little bit more than that, 'cause it's a more popular edition.

So, you know- - Wow.

- For the amount that we've paid, we're doing very good.

- Yes, you guys won today!

- I'm very excited.

Yes.

- Yeah.

(chuckles) - And it's just one of our favorite artworks in our house, so it's just nice to know, it's not going anywhere, but we just- - Yeah.

- I don't know, it's nice to kind of know what it's worth.

- [Veronica] The footage will appear in three "Antiques Roadshow" episodes: on April 27th, May 4th, and May 11th of 2026.

- I think the people from St.

Louis area, just like everybody that watches the show, I hope they feel connected to it the way that, you know, it reminds them, they'll see something in the episode that will remind them of their history.

(bright enchanting orchestral music)