I was up quite early for Saturday's Great Lakes Congress show. Liz Cory had invited me to stay at her house and she had to be at the show hall at 6:00 AM. So, we were up and at 'em by 5:15. Her husband, Sam, did a McDonalds run in his car while she and I headed over to the show hall in mine.
Arriving so early allowed me to have a more leisurely set up than I normally get to have at a horse show
and I even had time to line up my models in class entry order (which made things a lot easier as the show progressed.)
Champion and Reserve ribbons sorted and ready to go.
The table decor was also the judges' gifts - each judge received a huge canister of candy with a reusable skull on top.
There was a cool photo backdrop that cleverly incorporated the name of the show (No Frills).
Grand Champions of each division would receive a bucket of candy (I won the one on the far right)
and Reserve Grand Champions won cups full of small treats.
My Windsong Sherif won the first class of the day for me
and went on to be the Champion of the China Light Horse Division.
Windsong Zara won her class
and was Reserve Champion of the China Light Horse Division.
For those who don't know, I named my stable Windsong Stables way back in 1970. It's named after the sound of the wind through the Cottonwood trees along the Wabash River at my home, but most people think it's named after the old perfume. Nope!
Thinking that my stable was named for the perfume, someone once gave me a bottle of Windsong at a show "because I know you named your stable after this." Such a sweet thing to do! I keep that bottle of fragrance in my show box in honor of her gift.
Windsong Sherif was later named Overall Grand Champion of the China Division.
Not bad for a little guy I found in the hinterlands for only $6! I've had him since the early 1990s.
Windsong Adelaide was named Reserve Champion of the China Non Light division.
Harry Potter and Windsong Thunder also won their classes.
I stopped a few times by the Performance ring on my way back and forth to the China ring and snapped a few photos of some of those entries.
I thought that this Native American saddle was lovely.
I don't know which resin this is, but I have seen it a couple of times and really like it.
Just look at all those models! I love to walk around the show hall and look at what people have brought to show.
In the far back on the right is the GLC show office and all the tables on the right are vendors who have come to sell. (I'll do a blog post later this week on what I bought. Something for me as well as a little shopping for the Pony Pals.)
Steff Bodamer, OF Plastic Collectibility judge, dressed for the occasion.
My tablemate, Andie Berquist, who is pretty new to model horse showing, was thrilled to do so well with her gorgeous no-muscle woodgrain Clydesdale. She'd left it home last year thinking that it wasn't really something to show, but as she told me with a smile, she now knew better! (That's her flocky and cart, too.)
Tiffany Purdy (in her proverbial pink, of course!) and Steff double judged OF Plastic for halter as well as collectibility.
There was a huge raffle table (see the red and blue cups?) over by the office.
While judging one class, Steff burst out laughing and called out to the show hall, "Best collectibility card ever!" Of course, everyone then flocked to the show table to read it.
I tried to take photos with some of my closest hobby pals. Liz Cory is one of the best of the best!
Jamie Rott is a real sweetheart. She has been president of GLC for at least ten years and keeps getting re-elected since she does such a fantastic job.
At lunch the theme class was held as well as another one entitled Love That Mold.
This entry won that class - Steff said when awarding first prize that there were a lot of uber-rare pieces included in it.
A grouping of Ideal American Quarter Horses.
This was my favorite entry. I love that mold, and the Halloween/Day of the Dead tie-in was clever considering how close to Halloween we are.
An entry in the theme class. This was pretty cool!
Sande Schneider and her husband, Tom, popped in around noon to say hello and take a look at the models everyone had brought.
Liz LaRose did the same. She was very complimentary about The FAMulous Collectibility Show, and when I asked her for suggestions on making our china division better next year, she offered some really good ideas. Thanks, Liz!
Molly Benstein and Sande caught up with each other during the show.
I thought I had taken a photo of Chris Wallbruch who judged the china division, but sadly, I did not. But I do have this shot of her. (She is in the green tee shirt.)
Liz Cory takes photos throughout the show and then posts them on the GLC Facebook page and web site. I can't wait to see those that she took from this show.
This is a piece that I would love to find some day. The Family Arabian Mare (FAM) is not collected by most people until it comes to this rare one that was done in the old 5 Gaiter sorrel color.
My grey plastic solid black 1970s oil crisis Stretch Morgan won collectibility in a large class of Morgans.
I stopped taking photos at this point as the show was winding down and I had not packed any of my models up. With a five hour drive ahead of me (I like to go home after the show instead of spending another night on the road), I needed to get a move on.
Blog posts about my holiday purchases for the Pony Pals and a couple of new chinas for me is coming up next!
