The FAMulous Collectibility Show - First Pictures

It has been a hectic but wonderful weekend! The FAMulous Collectibility Show was a huge success and I have plenty of photos to share. Having said that, I have to take two of our judges down to Indianapolis to catch a plane in just a bit, so my fingers are flying over the keyboard as I try to get a blog post up before we leave.

 I could not have had a better co-host. Creative, hard working, and just plain fun to work with, Allison Pareis is terrific. (That's Customs judge Tara Oliver up on the stage helping set up our raffle.)

Allison is fond of the Family Arabian Mare (hence the name of the show) and Liz Cory helped me gift her with the entire Family Arabian Family in a color matching our show logo. (Liz found these while out antiquing.)

As you might imagine, that made Allison very happy.

Our show crew was fantastic and they all pitched in to help us get the show set up and rolling! Allison's husband, Stan Sollars, is a professor at Ball State University and hosts the morning show on NPR in that part of the state of Indiana. He was our announcer throughout the day and kept the showers laughing with his quick wit, remarks, and attention getting noisemakers.

 China judge Nancy Kelly, Stan, and me.

Our judges were top notch and very experienced.

Nancy Kelly, who has written four or five books on collecting Hagen Renakers (and more recently, Exploring the Model Horse Hobby) knows her stuff and did an excellent job judging a very tough China division.

Mother/daughter pair Cristine Holt and Tara Oliver, long time customs lovers, flew all the way out from Utah to judge our Customs classes.

You would not believe the pieces that came to the show! So many lovely models were there that never get off the shelves (or out of tubs) because they are not competitive in traditional halter classes. But when it comes to collectibility, they wowed everyone.

Hobby veteran Liz Cory judged the Critters and Things division. She has been in the hobby since the 1960s and is the treasurer for Great Lakes Congress. She, too, knew her stuff when it came to judging.

Liz had a hand held mini light that she used as she judged. This was the Breyer Dogs and Cats class. Clearly she was having fun as she judged, too!

Tonya Clapp tackled the largest division, Just About the Horses. She did a phenomenal job not only in judging, but in keeping her long list of classes moving along at a reasonable pace.

Judges were allowed to show in the divisions they were not judging, and Tonya brought some real goodies like this vintage flocked PAS and buggy.

Feedback from the show was very positive, and we have already posted the date for next year's show (August 8, 2020) so that people can begin planning for it.

More show photos coming tomorrow, but I need to get Cristine and Tara to Indy and the airport!