BreyerFest 2024: Saturday

Saturday is still a blur - it was so busy in the non-horsey part of my life, I had to attend BreyerFest in small increments.

It was after 11:00 by the time Emily and the Pony Pals were able to get back on the road for Tennessee, so we missed Ian's soccer scrimmage. Since it was a very last minute decision to meet by the two coaches (24 hours' notice) and Curt knew that Emily would be leaving during the same window of time, he told us to not worry.

Then I had the conflict between Jayci's bridal shower in Las Vegas and Liz Cory's appearance on the BreyerFest Live Feed. I solved that this way:

I ran both at once while I waited for the bridal shower to begin. The start of the shower was delayed which allowed me to catch a little more of the Live Feed.

Liz's segment turned out to be very short, which also worked out well - I was able to multitask them both. However, since the Zoom shower attendees were chatting as we waited, I turned the volume off on the BreyerFest Live Stream and didn't hear anything that Liz said. (I'm still wondering why her segment was so short but I haven't talked to her since Friday to find out.)

The shower was really fun and was almost like two showers because Hawkeye Sarah made sure that the virtual attendees felt like they were a part of the shower, too.

When they were playing games that we could not participate in, she had virtual games for us.

And Jayci, her mom, and several other guests came over and chatted with us, too.

When the shower was over, I had a quick switch into the Breyer auction. Its start was delayed for almost 15 minutes. I heard later that someone in attendance had shouted, "No more online auctions!" and that the crowd had booed him or her. But finally it was underway.

There were two big ticket items:

The Rearing Lipizzaner Pegasus sold for $32,500 to an online bidder,

and the Alborozo was the top seller at $37,500, also to an online bidder. 

At times the bidding was so fast that the posted bid (in green) could not keep up and there were concerns that the online bidders would not know where the bidding was. The auctioneer would pause at those times to let it catch up. We were told that the slowness was due to the internet connection out at the park.

Here are my notes along with a running total that I did for every three lots.

If I heard right and then did the math correctly (this teacher would be HIGHLY embarrassed if she did not, LOL) then the auction brought in $243,500 this year.

When the auction closed, Craig and I headed out to accomplish another BreyerFest tradition.

We've been going to dinner at Bob Evans during BreyerFest since 2019!

It's down home cooking and quiet - a good place to decompress and catch up on each other's days.

And that concludes my 2024 BreyerFest with the exception of one thing - Andrea Gurdon's 50th anniversary cake. Today I am going to head to church and then come home and bake that cake. I'll rest and recoup from a very busy week, have some cake, and do a little reading in a now quiet home. 

It's been a week!

BreyerFest Week: It's Friday!

After months of waiting, at last BreyerFest  is here! I could hardly sleep last night, I was so excited. I'm starting the day by posting my final guess list for Breyer's Mystery Horse Surprise.

Lynn's Final Mystery Surprise Horse Guesses

1) Lipizanner Mare

2) Arabian Mare (Justadream/Oasis/Make A Wish)

3) Wixom

4) Weather Girl

5) Strapless

HM) Marabella

And... still hoping for that PAM or Lady Phase.

We find out in just a few hours at most!!

Because my home is full of family, both from out and in town, I won't be able to do Virtual BreyerFest quite as I have in the past.

I've always gone out to the barn on Friday morning before BreyerFest begins. For me, that represents going to Kentucky Horse Park. 

I wear my volunteer shirt and spend time with Abby and the horses. Sadly, that will look very different this year.

Today I will put on my volunteer shirt, but I can't get out to the barn until late afternoon. Or, depending on a couple of things, even until tomorrow.

I hope to get some time today to watch BreyerFest online - the main feed with Kimber and her interviews, social media to find out who the Mystery Surprise horse is (and its colors), and more.

Even though I have already seen it many times, I will watch my own virtual seminar.

There is something about having BreyerFest going on, clicking on my own video, and watching it as an actual part of BreyerFest.

It makes me really happy to volunteer for Breyer - I've been collecting for a very long time and I like giving back to a company that has brought me so much happiness over the years.

And, in honor of Andrea Gurdon's 50th anniversary of collecting, I will be baking a cake. On January 20 of this year, Andrea mentioned that it was unlikely she would be attending this year's BreyerFest.  

She had planned to have a yellow cake with gold frosting and possibly Breyer's Man O' War on it, so I am going to do that in her honor. (Although the Man O' War will stand next to it, I think.)

Craig and I always go out to eat at Bob Evans on Friday or Saturday night. Since we have a family dinner tonight, that will need to wait until Saturday after folks go home. (Or, tonight's dinner will count, although I highly doubt it will be at Bob Evans.)

Gotta run as the kids are up and things are beginning to hop around here.  Have fun today, everyone, be it in person or virtually! And I can't wait to FINALLY find out who the Mystery Surprise Horse is! And to reveal the July Mystery Surprise Blog Horse!

As Jessie from Toy Story would say, "Yeehah!!"