Friday, February 1
Elsie and Geri decided to go to the fifth annual Wuertz Family Gourd Festival at the Pinal County Fairgrounds. "Wow! I had no idea," is all Geri kept repeating as she saw the imagination and creativity of the sculptors of the spectacular gourds on display.
When one enters the grounds, there are bins and bins of gourds. All shapes and sizes imagineable. Still, we had no clue what a treat we were in for.
We had a bit of fun before entering the contest barn to view the gourds on display there.
This Superbowl game was made from gourds, and the purpose was to pull back the gourd attached to the end of the string in the picture and knock the three gourds off their stands; then go after the two football-shaped gourds off their stand. If you were successful, you received a free Gourd Festival tee-shirt. No, we didn't play this game. It looked like fun, though!
The pictures below do no begin to convey the beauty and originality of the gourds. The three pictures that follow are of the same gourd, and it was for sale. Asking price? $5,000! Look at the edges of the sculptures to see the depth of carving that took place. Absolutely amazing!
The pictures below are a sampling of what was on display, and bounce back and forth between the exhibit barn and the vendor barn but show the ingenuity of the artists. Imagination is a wonderful thing, that's for sure. There are also many books to help spur one's imagination should it be need some help.
This jellyfish was Geri's favorite. Love the tentacles and detail! Seemingly so delicate. Gorgeous! Next year, we'll take our tripods and bigger flash to take better pictures and get rid of the shadow behind the sculptures. Not sure how that will go over with the gourd-viewers, but we'll give it a try.
Speaking of originality, whenever the wheels turned on this bicycle, the legs on this Superman gourd ran. Cute, cute!
A really fun way to spend a couple of hours with a friend! Of course, we finished it off with lunch after!
