Yikes, where does the time go? My boxes of for sale items went off to PO transit already and I need to get the supplies for my jewelry making class squared away soon. In the meantime I thought I could share some pictures from my first Breyerfest. Sit down, grab a frozen lemonade (the only thing that keeps me sane in the heat of the horsepark), and enjoy!
The year? 1993.
Don’t I look excited? The airline allowance for luggage was much more generous back then. I had only discovered the hobby the year before, and I already have chosen to fly models half way across the country for the Breyerfest live show.
Just wait, it gets better!
The beginnings of years of standing in lines! Yeehaw! I have line-standing friends that I see every year and catch up on life whiling away the hours waiting to spend money with Breyer. You will notice the line is in the concourse and appears quite short to us veterans now. Back then it was all new…
The Live Show? Oh yes, my glossy black and white pinto Shetland Pony did quite well, as did my matte bay Western Prancer.
Here we are… Wait, the Covered Arena?!?! Yep, we showed on that dirt floor, all day, in the heat, and we LIKED it! The collectors classes were on the relatively level stage up front. It sounded good until someone hit my table and models took a nosedive onto the concrete. At least on the show tables they took diggers into the dirt.
What can we do in the afternoon after the show?
Why sit on the hillside by the barns and chat with Peter Stone, of course. I wish I had taken notes…
Next up?
The Raffle! Yes, you see correctly. That is the bed of a pickup truck they are standing in, with a cardboard box to hold the tickets. We were still on the hillside from the last picture, sitting in the grass and enjoying the excitement.
Finally, what I had been waiting for all weekend!
The auction! Yes again, that is a flatbed trailer, and we are at the old Steeplechase Barn (if memory serves it was torn down in the World Equestrian Games makeover) on the way to the campground. No lights, so as the sun set a few people drove up and turned on their truck headlights so we could see. I had saved all year to buy a Test Run. I thought I would be priced out of the bidding, everything was going over my budget. Finally I got lucky. I was the high bidder for a baby dun Phantom Wings. Sit down before you read the winning bid. $100.
There’s more? Be still my beating heart!
My first view of the madness inside. The doors of the Holiday Inn North plastered with flyers for fabulous finds within. There followed incredibly awesome nights of wandering the halls, dazed and confused, lost and deliriously happy with meeting people I wished I had known all my life.
This will be my 20th trip to Breyerfest. My friends tell me how jealous they are – they have to go to places like Barcelona and Prague. I get to go to Lexington Kentucky in July! How great is that?
Darlin' Dils Collectibles 
All I can say now is THOSE WERE THE DAYS!!!
You love it and you know it! The good old days when we walked up hill both ways in the scorching sun 10 miles barefoot – and we liked it!
Unless you’ve missed a year, this will be your TWENTY-FIRST! (and my 20th!)
Geeze, you’re right! Time flies (unless you are standing in line)…
Can’t wait to see everyone again!
That’s me in the “hillside chat” photo, sitting left of center, in the light blue hat with the tan shopping tote. The dark-haired guy directly behind me is my then fiancé (now husband). That was our first BF together! 🙂 🙂
I’ve been to every BF and yes, those were the days!!
I will be posting more pictures from the past, so subscribe to keep up with the fun! I have yet to bring hubby, mom and I are having so much fun (and she has just as many friends as I do by now) it will be a while before he gets to come.
You don’t really notice the change year-to-year, but looking back at these old pictures reminded me how far we have come…
When did you get married?
It’s just easier to say than fiance for so many years we might as well be married…
Perhaps we will go for it after I graduate (again)!
I feel so ashamed – my first Breyerfest was in 1999.
Ah, what a nOOb – of course you are a chinahead, so you have no use for these crazy plastic models, right? (trade your Red Velvet for my hearing back, I still have ringing in my ears from that raffle)
I wonder if that was also my first (and only) Breyerfest? I certainly remember the dirt floor!
We showed on that dirt floor for several years. I think at least through 1995, the first year of prize models. By 2002 (the year of the porcelain Warmblood) we were in that ‘temporary’ tent.
I’ve got pictures from 1996 of the Open Show being in the arena on the dirt floor. I thought it was really strange as I didn’t know before that that you could show your model horses. LOL
Laura
My first Breyerfest was in 1996 when Tseminole Wind was the BF Celebration horse. Man, I just couldn’t believe there were so many other horse crazy model horse collectors! My family had told me that once I got into my teens that I needed to “outgrow” my model horse collecting, but after that weekend I came “out of the closet” so to speak!
Laura