BreyerFest #36 is in the books, and as always, it was wonderful to get away to horse country with my family and to see so many of our friends. My sister and I spent several months before BF working on our preparations for the event, and as fun as it was, I am relieved to be home with no immediate obligations or deadlines. I am really looking forward to putting my feet up (metaphorically) and working on some fun projects for myself that have been on the back burner due to lack of time. (Not that the projects I have been doing for the past 4 or 5 months haven't been fun---they've actually been really inspiring---so I'm thrilled to have a chance to put that creative mojo to work.)
Anyhoo, for me, BreyerFest felt like it started the week before I left because it turned out to be pretty epic mail-wise. I received a box of trade goodies I'd eagerly been anticipating, especially this lovely Vintage Club In-Between Mare. I just need to find the bay now, and I'll have the complete VC trio.
As if that weren't enough, my Breyer club mail came in all at once, including the Vintage Club Mustang Family (another trade), my Premier Club Cosimo, and my Stablemate Club Spencer.
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| Hooray for getting the color I most wanted! |
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| Cosimo is stunning! I need more! |
As if the above models weren't awesome enough, I also scored a green Breyer Money Manager on eBay which arrived that same week. This made up quite nicely for me not having much to spend at BF this year although I did find some fun stuff for cheap. But more on that later.
As usual, I flew down to Georgia a few days early to meet up with my family and to finalize our BreyerFest live show string. My sister Sarah does a lot of the prep work ahead of time since she lives down there, and she also helps me by photographing models for this blog and other projects. So I was really excited to be able to gift her a box full of thank yous for her many hours of hard work when I arrived. It took all of my willpower to keep this particular pair a secret!
We hit the road for Lexington on Wednesday morning and made good time, arriving at our hotel late in the afternoon. One of the many painted horses that dot the Lexington area stands right outside the front door of our hotel, so we took the obligatory selfie.
The open show this year was two days, Thursday and Friday, so that unfortunately nixed our plans for Breakables as well as for getting any appreciable amount of sleep. Nonetheless, with the aid of coffee and sugar, we survived two long (freezing cold, like Rupp-Arena-during-NAN cold) days showing and were happy to do well both days.
In particular, as giant nerds for vintage models and oddities, we really enjoy the collectors classes that kick off the show first thing both mornings. On Thursday, I was thrilled to win second place with my mini collectors class.
On Friday, Sarah and I both set up collectors classes for the main collectibility day---she did theme while I did variety. Collectors classes have long been a live showing tradition though they are sadly less common these days. They are meant to showcase a collector's rarest and most desirable models, and as Sarah and I strive for old, rare, and weird in our collections, we have loved putting together collectors classes for shows since we started showing in the early 1990s. Sarah and I both won second in our respective divisions.
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| Sarah's Fury Prancer-themed set-up |
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| My vintage variety set-up |
We managed a couple of hours of shopping and looking around at the CHIN on Wednesday and Thursday night, but by Friday night after two very long days that started at 4:00am, we just ordered pizza and face-planted into bed.
Saturday is always our park day, so we slept in some before heading over to the KHP to collect our special run models and raffle tickets. Sarah and I both opted for the Lassie and the surprise for our special run choices. Sarah lucked out and pulled the glossy decorator Totilas, but I decided I didn't really care enough for any of the surprise colors to bother buying one.
We then headed over to the guest horse barn specifically to see Dani, the 2021 celebration horse. She was just as gorgeous in person as we expected, and we were delighted to get to pet her and get an autograph from her owner.
We also got to see Athenian Lady again, the 2024 celebration horse...
And we found Tight Lines, this year's celebration horse, just as he was warming up to go into the covered arena.
Having acquired the beginnings of a sunburn by that point, we headed for shade and air conditioning for a bit in the visitors' center before making our annual pilgrimage to see Man O' War. The Kentucky Horse Park is a special place, and MOW's grave has a bit of an otherworldly aura about it, fitting for the greatest American racehorse of all time.
We closed out our park visit by once again not being picked for the raffle. We only ever spend about $25 on tickets though, so our chances are never great. This is what comes of being raised by the children of frugal Great Depression grandparents, haha!
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| A big crowd for the Saturday raffle |
We did a bit more visiting at the CHIN on Saturday night before calling BF a wrap. Neither of us bought a whole lot and nothing very expensive. I bought a few small Hagen-Renakers including a DW mushroom I've been wanting for ages and a few other fun odds and ends.
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| Some purchases and a few gifts from friends |
I did find one very interesting oddity (not pictured) for $10 late on Saturday that I am quietly freaking out about. I need to finish cleaning off paint from an old repainting attempt, but it looks promising. Once I'm confidant I'm not seeing things, I'll share more about that model here. (Cliffhanger!)
The last thing I got at BF was a little gift from my sister. In keeping with the Hagen-Renaker plant theme of my DW mushroom purchase, I brought home another HR-related plant, but this one is real. Years ago, Dawn Sinkovich of Share the Love gave me and Sarah kalanchoe seedlings that had come from Maureen Love's garden. I wasn't able to take mine on the plane, so I sent it home with Sarah, and both plants have thrived under her green thumb. This year, Sarah brought tiny little kalanchoe sprouts from the original line of plants, and I was able to carefully wrap one little pot and tuck it in my purse during my flight home. It's now sitting in the ivy-shaded window of my office, and hopefully I won't kill it by over-watering it. (I love succulents too much sometimes...) Maureen's influence lives on in our hobby in so many ways, and I'm thrilled to nurture this little remembrance of her garden.
