Featured Breyerfest - 2000

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! I made it back home to NZ, so that means it's time to...keep talking about other Breyerfests! This week we're covering Breyerfest 2000. Here are some notable events from the year 2000:

• The Y2K bug was mostly a non-issue
• Peanuts publishes its last comic, and creator Charles Schultz dies the next day
• Lucien Laurin, trainer of Secretariat, dies at 88
• The 2000 Olympics take place in Sydney, Australia

And Breyerfest 2000 was the first Breyerfest of the new millennium! Depending on how you define the beginning of the millennium, of course (some people count it as 2001). 
Dates: July 28-30, 2000
Celebration Horse: Leahs Fancy Chick
Number of Celebration Models produced: 4,400
Attendance: "almost 4,000"
Here's the first 2000 page from the commemorative program:

The real Leahs Fancy Chick was a successful roping horse, and her new filly accompanied her to the event (Breyer held a naming contest for the filly and the winning name was Leahs Fancy Breyer). I wasn't able to find much updated information on her. If allbreedpedigree is to believed, she had three offspring (Leahs Fancy Breyer, Like a Fancy Diamond and Gucci Gunner). Like a Fancy Diamond has several offspring listed on allbreedpedigree, as does Gucci Gunner. 
Special runs in 2000 were plentiful, including Buford, the Walking Hereford Bull; Mardi Gras, the Lonesome Glory; Patches, the Kitten; Sarsaparilla, the Semi-Rearing Mustang; and the ever-present keychains, this time in a set featuring the G2 Cantering Warmblood, G2 Rearing Arabian, G2 Appaloosa and the G2 Saddlebred. Prize models were introduced to Breyerfest Live, with glossy Zippo Pine Bar models along with the palomino Saddlebreds on the clock and the glossy dapple gray Saddlebreds, also on the clock. This was the first year that the show wasn't held on the floor of the Covered Arena! Huzzah. The year 2000 also ushered in the Sunday Raffle and the Silent Auction. Here's the first page of the Breyerfest 2000 recap from JAH:

Sounds like the weather in 2000 was similar to the weather we had this year! 

It appears that 2000 was also the first year that Pal o' Mine made his debut. I try to keep my distance from him (he creeps me out a little bit). I did see him this year and well...I feel like that costume needs a refresh, or replacement.

That's it for the JAH recap. Let's take a look at some of these auction models! More can be found here.

This one is a little understated, but still pretty cool - he's the Friesian in glossy metallic cobalt blue with black shading. Very pretty color! 

I wish we had some better photos of this Sham, because his color is beautiful as well. I wonder where he is now? 

Here's the crazy Fruit Stripe zebra, who has been a subject of this blog before, back when I was doing the Featured Model posts. Be still my heart! I would love to own this one and add it to my zebra collection. Maybe someday? 

Lastly for this blog, we have this "wild lacy dapple charcoal" by Tom Bainbridge. What a crazy color! I know I say this a lot, but I wonder where this one is now? Anyone have some better photos? 

And that's it for this week! Check back next week for Breyerfest 2001! 

Breyerfest Day 3: It’s All Over…Again

Greetings, readers! Well, another Breyerfest is in the books. I hope everyone had a great time. My quest to collect all the surprise models was a success again - behold!

So in my last trip through the special run line, I pulled three more Scandi Surprises and got the matte Appaloosa, glossy Appaloosa and the glossy chestnut pinto. Which meant I only needed the matte roan and glossy amber champagne to complete the set. Fortunately, one of the Lithas I got turned out to be the decorator, so I traded that for the glossy amber champagne and then bought a roan from someone…but I wouldn’t have needed to do that if I’d waited a little bit, because when I went through the leftover line I got a roan and another glossy Appaloosa! So now I have 11 new Vermeers to fit into my luggage along with everyone else! Hint: it’s not going to happen. Oh well.

I did swing by the silent auction at closing time, but the BCC set went way out of my price range, as expected. Oh well.

I also made it over to the Collector Club tent to photograph the new releases, but had to evacuate to the covered arena partway through when the thunderstorm rolled in. So there was an impromptu dance party while we waited for the storm to clear up. Eventually it went away and I finished taking my photos - so my Breyerfest Closeups series will be able to continue! Huzzah! 

That’s about it for today - tomorrow will be a busy day of packing and taking things back to the storage unit, and then I fly back to NZ on Tuesday. But I’m already looking forward to the next Breyerfest, which was announced today: Italy!

I wasn’t expecting another European country theme, but I wonder if this means we’ll get a blue roan Cosimo as the Celebration Model? That would be amazing! I was less thrilled to see they pushed the dates back, which will make our plans for next year more complicated, but we’ll deal with that later. 

And lastly, we finally got to see the third volunteer model! I don’t have a photo I can use,  but the color is cream! I’d like to get my hands on one, but I don’t think it’s going to happen at this point, so he’ll have to go on my wish list for later along with matte Oseburg. 

Whew! That was a lot of stuff to talk about. I’ll get started on the Breyerfest Closeups posts when I get home. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a safe trip home! 

Breyerfest Day 2: Actually Day 2 This Time

 Greetings, readers! Day 2 of Breyerfest is over - and yes, today was day 2. Not sure how I got the numbers confused yesterday, but it’s been corrected. How embarrassing! I guess I’ll blame it on typing these posts on my phone when I usually use a computer. Well, anyways…it was a pretty good day for me! I didn’t actually make it to the KHP until later in the afternoon, but I was able to pick up the models for 3 more of my tickets! I got three normal Litha models, and as for the Scandi Surprises: I got the matte chestnut pinto, matte bay (again)…and a glossy bay roan! Woohoo! I was able to trade the matte bay for the matte amber champagne, so that means I only need three more to have the full set! Let’s hope I can get at least one leopard one tomorrow, eh? 

In other news, I forgot to write about the silent auction stuff in yesterday’s post, so you get to see it today instead. Behold!

For some reason I thought this was going to be the gray one, so I was surprised to see the black one instead. I want him so bad! But he’s going to be too expensive for me.

Here’s the cassowary Fireheart. I need to swing by the silent auction and see what the bids are; there weren’t any when I was there.

My soul craves that Lingonberry! Such a handsome model. 

Giant Horatio is also very pretty! I almost don’t want to know how much he sells for. He’d make a good Collector Class entry with the mini Horatio.

Hmm, they put a new tail on Camilla. I wonder if she’s going to get a new release soon? Nice color, but I’m still not a fan of the mold. 

That’s it for (OF) silent auction lots, other than the glossy Flinka gift basket. I wonder how much the Design Your Own Breyer will go for? 

And speaking of auctions, it sounds like the live auction is over - I didn’t go, but I guess only three of the lots went over $10,000? I’m not really surprised, with the state of economy and all. The Silver Pegasus was the highest-priced lot at $21,000; now that wasn’t a surprise. He certainly is pretty!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Back to selling models! I hope everyone is having a great Breyerfest!

Breyerfest Day 1: Here We Go Again

 Well, readers, day 1 of Breyerfest is over and I have so much to write about! Firstly, I was right about the surprise model this year (along with a bunch of other people): it’s Vermeer! The colors are beautiful, but I was really hoping it would be a mold I don’t collect. Oh well. Here’s the full set of glossies in the silent auction!

So the colors are bay roan, gold charm sabino rabicano (or something along those lines), dark bay, black leopard Appaloosa, some kind of pearl buckskin and chestnut pinto. The gold ones are all glossy, so that’s 9 new Vermeers I have to find! I’m a little confused why they did another black leopard Vermeer, but whatevs. I really like the gold one; I don’t think we’ve seen a paint job quite like that before. 

And speaking of getting models, I picked up my VIP box today and was pleased to find I got a glossy Oseburg! Also a matte bay Scandi Surprise. Now I just have to find a matte one. I got models from two of my special run tickets as well, and ended up getting a decorator Litha and the glossy bay and gold (!) Scandi Surprises! 

Let’s see, what else happened today? A bunch of new releases were revealed in the Collector Club tent, but I’ll cover those later. I also discovered the joys of taking the purple route shuttle from the special run line to the parking lot, and vice versa. Much easier than walking! 

That’s it for now, but I hope people are having a good Breyerfest. I did get rained on while I was sitting in line this morning, but my umbrella kept me from getting soaked, so that was good. I also bought, labeled and then deposited my raffle tickets in the bin, so that little chore is taken care of. 

That’s all I can think of for now. But I’ll be back with more reporting tomorow,  so check back for more recap!

Breyerfest Day 0: Off to a Good Start

 Greetings, readers! Well, I made it back to Kentucky, albeit a day late after I managed to miss my last flight of the day. Good thing I didn’t have anything important planned yesterday! I finally got to the Clarion in the early afternoon and now I’m settled in and selling as usual. Today I showed Stablemates at Day 1 of the Breyerfest Live show. No prizes again, but maybe next year. Anyway, I just got back from a trip to the Artisan’s Gallery, where lots of exciting things were on display. Behold!

It’s the Bijous! Should be released in October.

They also had both versions of Derecho along with Astoria, the reworked G2 Belgian. 

Next were both versions of Kiana, along with (presumably) the next Stablemates Club release.

And here we have Waffles and Flapjack! Still nothing I need, but they sure are cute (and bigger than I expected!)

And finally, on to the special runs! First we have The Wanderer and Hirtir.

Next were Midnattsol and both versions of Aquavit.

And then there’s the main attraction: both versions of Oseburg!

Followed by Birka and Ribe and both versions of Thingvellir.

And then there were both versions of Litha, plus Dalarna. 

And now we’ve reached the Limited Editions, including Ojvind, Valdur from Dalalif and both versions of Hygge, the online Stablemate.

Here we have the Best of Breyerfest set and the crystal. I guess the plush kinda got divided between these two photos. Oh well.

And lastly, we have Uff Da and…bleh, I’m just going to refer to him as Pyxis. 

That’s it for the artisan’s gallery - but wait, there’s more! I got a Breyerfest program at the show today and the auction pages showed the two hidden auction lots! Here’s the first one:

A very pretty black leopard Tigerlily! Ooh, I want her. And here’s the other one:

A very handsome Cleveland Bay! 

Where, this has been a long post. Now it’s time to get back to room sales. Happy Breyerfest Eve, everyone!

TSC Stablemates have arrived!

 Good news, readers! I had some of the new TSC Stablemates shipped to a friend in anticipation of Breyerfest, and they've arrived! Behold: 

Yay, a full set! No chases, but I don't need either of them anyway, so that's okay. The extras will be for sale in my room at the Clarion later this week. 

And speaking of later this week, and a little event happening this weekend...it sounds like things are getting serious up in Kentucky! People are arriving at the Clarion (which is apparently not quite ready for our arrival just yet, but should be ready by Wednesday), getting set up and ready to sell! My long journey from NZ starts in a little over 24 hours, and I'm in the midst of packing and getting ready to go! If all goes well I'll be back in Kentucky late Tuesday night, and I'll be set up and ready to sell from room 409 like usual. As always, stop in the room and mention the blog and you'll get to pick a free Stablemate (while supplies last). See you in Kentucky! 

Featured Breyerfest - 1999

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! This week we're traveling back to 1999! Notable things that happened in 1999: 

• The Sopranos premieres on TV (I've never watched it)
• Futurama premieres on TV (Now that I have watched!)
• Napster, the infamous filesharing service, is created
• Woodstock '99 takes place, introducing a whole new generation to endless mud, drugs and rock'n'roll

And, in the midst of all this, we had Breyerfest 1999! 
Dates: July 30-Aug. 1
Celebration Horse: Molokai
Number of Celebration Models Produced: 4,200
Attendance: "The largest crowd since [Breyerfest] debuted 10 years ago" 
Here's the first 1999 page from the commemorative program:

The real Molokai was an eventing champion owned by Dorothy Trapp-Crowell. He was a Thoroughbred purchased off the track at 4 years old, and then went on to win the first 4* version of the Kentucky Three-Day Event and a silver medal at the 1994 World Equestrian Games. Molokai died in 2013 at 30 years old and was inducted into the USEA Eventing Hall of Fame in 2015. 

The special run lineup was greatly expanded this year with the introduction of Tiki, Dylan, Oreo and Flint, as well as more keychains. The timed special run tickets were introduced this year as a response to the Shannon debacle of the previous year (see my last Featured Breyerfest post). Still only one raffle model (Ransom) and the volunteer model (Zeppelin). The model horse show was still being held on the floor of the Covered Arena. Glad those days are over! 

Here's the recap from Sept/Oct 1999:

The show went on, despite record-breaking heat, so...let's hope the same happens this year? Without anyone being injured, hopefully. Take care of yourselves in the heat and humidity, folks! 

And here are some of the auction models:

That Mystical Rainbow Huck was legendary! The first time any Breyer model had been seen in that color, to my knowledge. Nowadays his paint job seems kinda simplistic (they couldn't paint the eyes?) but at the time it was amazing. I wonder where he is now? 

Here are some others:

This Big Ben is pretty cool though, though I don't think the pattern is very realistic. I'm surprised he didn't sell for more ($1,100). 

Another brindle! I wish the photo was better.

A Boxer! We never get animals in the auction lots anymore. They don't sell as well, which is probably why, but still. Rainbow dog, anyone? 

We don't ever get Classic auction models anymore either, which is kinda sad. I'd love to see a test on the Show Arabian or Shire A/B. And this one sold for $1,000; pretty respectable for a Classic. That's the equivalent of a little more than $2,000 now! 

I didn't know this one existed! They painted a chestnut Friesian Holiday Horse to match the stirrup ornament! The stirrup ornament series debuted in 1999, too. How cool! Ooh, I hope that costume didn't stain him. I wish we had better photos of this one, too. 

Well, that's it for this week. Featured Breyerfest will be on hiatus next week due to Breyerfest, so check back in a couple of weeks as I enter the new millennium and cover Breyerfest 2000!