I Got Gourd At The Festival

I never did check the temperature yesterday.  I just didn't want to know exactly how cold it was as Lynn and I headed off on our exciting journey to the Gourd Festival.  There was only one bloop in the radar when I followed my phone's directions.  That lasted all of two minutes before I turned around and got back on the freeway.  Lynn and Jan's directions were perfect ... my phone, not so much.

I was laughing from the time we entered the fairgrounds till we left.  Signs like this one are all around the grounds.  I got gourd at the festival.  This hunky bull is made completely of gourds, and he's anatomically correct in case you were wondering.

This little guy was giving a ride to his friend Gourdy and quickly became the hit of the show.

I was immediately enthralled by these beauties.  Luckily I had already read up on this one.  Fractal burning with electricity makes these gorgeous lightning-type patterns.  No, I'm not going to try that.  With my luck I'd electrocute myself.

Our first stop was the judging building.  Everything here was entered into different classes to be judged by the Gourd Society.  Isn't this gorgeous?  

These masks were very popular, both in the judging building and the Vendor area.

Then there were things like this.  How in the world they made this gourd look like wood, I'll never know.  It's an amazing example of the carving and painting work they can do.

It only gets better.  Except for us that is.  We were finally able to hook up with Jan and Bill Mains. Having been through the building, we waited at the exit.  I can't believe we missed them somehow, in spite of cruising the building twice.  On to the main vendor building we went, right through the gauntlet of barbecued beef wagons.  Gosh that food smelled good!!

Isn't this fabulous?  I spent many years carving leather to look like this and now I hope to be able to carve gourds.  We shall see ... electric tools and I don't always see eye to eye.

The variety was endless and it only got better as we walked around.

Rattlesnake anyone??

Here's the award winner.  The filigree on this gourd is amazing.  The public got to vote for their favorite, and I'm pretty sure this one is going to win.  

I could just go on for hours, showing you the gourds with horsehair on the top, pine needles woven into designs and even pieces of lariat or rope we used to catch stray calves.  Yup ..... THIS is what I want to learn how to do.

The variety is amazing, from thunder gourds to lamps like these.  Every time I turned around, the word WOW came out of my mouth.  Unlike many art shows, these guys didn't mind pictures, so I took LOTS!!

Finally I ran into the seller of equipment to make these beauties.  Unfortunately, his $495 price didn't compute with my wallet, nor with what I had read on-line.  I asked a couple of ladies for help and was hit with the magic words ...... HARBOR FREIGHT.  We shall see how it pans out.  

I was still looking for the cowboy hat, meaning we had found Jan and Bill, but it was not to happen.  It seems they were outside listening to the music and missed my calls.  RATS!!  I'm sure there will be another time.  

Think this is a lot of pictures for a blog?  Oh my friends .... there are MANY more that you just have to see, so I'll finish up tomorrow.  I did find one tool from Colorado that I'm excited to try out, but you'll have to check back next time.  I need to watch LOTS of YouTube videos before I venture farther into the land of gourds.