Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! We've finished the original commemorative program and are now moving on to the one published in 2025, starting with 2015, so let's get started!
Notable events of 2015:
- Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-serving monarch (of any country) in history
- Rubella is declared eradicated in North and South America
- Liquid water is found on Mars
- Hurricane Patricia becomes the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere
Dates: July 17-19, 2015
Theme: Vive la France!
Celebration Horse: Simba du Pont de Tournay
Number of Celebration Models produced: 6,500
Here's the first 2015 page from the new commemorative program:
The real Simba is/was an Ardennes stallion who was one of only a handful of Ardennes horses in the USA at that time. I couldn't find any recent information about what Simba has been up to lately or whether he's still alive. I believe his hitch mate in the above photo was in foal to him at the time. I remember being relieved that I didn't want any of the raffle or prize models. I was also a volunteer this year, though I ended up selling my volunteer model afterward (the color is pretty, but I'm just not a fan of SCO).
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Importantly, 2015 was the first year of the Best Customs Contest! The prize models for the inaugural year were Anahi and Agueda - the runner-up Stablemates weren't introduced until a few years later. This has led to some amazing customs being created over the years! I love looking at the entries every year. Other store specials were the still-popular Caves of Lascaux, Frenchie the plush, Joie de Vivre the crystal, Fontainebleau the "Connoisseur" release (which didn't sell well and led to the end of that little experiment) and Art Noveau the Classic. I can't remember if this was the year the pop-up tent was introduced, or if that happened earlier, but I know Caves of Lascaux (among the other store specials) was sold in the pop-up tent, because there were a lot of references to the "Tent of Despair" due to how quickly things sold out.
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Importantly, 2015 was the first year of the Best Customs Contest! The prize models for the inaugural year were Anahi and Agueda - the runner-up Stablemates weren't introduced until a few years later. This has led to some amazing customs being created over the years! I love looking at the entries every year. Other store specials were the still-popular Caves of Lascaux, Frenchie the plush, Joie de Vivre the crystal, Fontainebleau the "Connoisseur" release (which didn't sell well and led to the end of that little experiment) and Art Noveau the Classic. I can't remember if this was the year the pop-up tent was introduced, or if that happened earlier, but I know Caves of Lascaux (among the other store specials) was sold in the pop-up tent, because there were a lot of references to the "Tent of Despair" due to how quickly things sold out.
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Special runs for 2015 were Giverny, La Taureau (derided at the time for his coat pattern resembling mold growth), Enchante (who was well-received when unveiled, but later some buyers were disappointed by his yellow legs), Haute Couture (the hot item for 2015), Ganache (my personal favorite of the group), Chanel and Versailles, along with the Quelle Surprise models on Lonesome Glory. I can't remember who I thought the surprise model was going to be, but it wasn't Lonesome Glory. The colors were great! I think I like the perlino the best. Side note: we went on our year-delayed honeymoon in September of 2015 and saw Oration at the Arabian and Half-Arabian Sport Horse Nationals, which was pretty cool.
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And now, here are the relevant pages from the 2015 annual JAH!
Page 2:
And page 3:
And now, here are some of my on-the-ground photos!
Auction models on display
Horse and rider at the evening show
Paddyngton's Mark of Distinction and Holly Armstrong
Some of the costume contest competitors, including Andrea Gurdon in light green/yellow (RIP Andrea, we miss you!)
The craziness of the Stablemate painting tent
Now, let's take a look at some auction models!
Now, let's take a look at some auction models!
Weather Girl was still in the "Breyer Vault" at this time, so it was nice to get an auction model on her. Can't help but wonder if this one ended up being the inspiration for Picante? She certainly is pretty.
This auction model was one of the ones involved in the Great Program Fail of 2015 - Breyer released the Breyerfest program a few weeks before Breyerfest 2015, but there was a software oops - the auction model pages in the program were covered up with an easily-removed white box, revealing all of the auction models! The file was quickly edited to remove the auction models completely, but you know how it goes - once it's on the internet, it's there forever.
I love the intricate pattern on this Carrick! And the color, too. He's so handsome!
And lastly, look at this pretty sorrel Othello! Pretty sure I was really hoping he would turn out to be the volunteer model for 2015, but that turned out not to be the case, as the volunteer model stopped being in the live auction starting in 2014.
And that's it for this week! Check back next week for 2016.
And that's it for this week! Check back next week for 2016.
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