Friday Free Fun At BreyerFest!

If you don’t want to stand in line waiting to get into BreyerFest first thing on Friday morning, here’s a tip: you don’t have to be there before the gates open!

Unless you’re chomping at the bit to get into the Breyer store or want to be the very first person to unwrap the Scandi Surprise, you don’t have to be one of the very first guests in line. Besides, the Warehouse Finds and Archive Room Finds in the Breyer Store are put out on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday mornings, and the Limited Edition Models are restocked daily in the store as well.

You can have a relaxing morning and get a little more sleep, eat some breakfast and fuel up for the day, then head to the horse park for 9:30. At this time BreyerFest has only been open for 30 minutes, but the fun is just beginning. Scan your tickets at the gate without the wait, and you’re in! BreyerFest is your oyster!

Before the heat of the day, you head over to event stabling where you can meet the special BreyerFest Limited Edition Portrait models in real life after dreaming of them for months. You’ll also see the horses that are part of the equine acts at BreyerFest, so many different breeds with over 200 horses that have come from far and wide. What a great chance to chat with owners, riders, and observe the amazing horses that inspire Breyer’s models!

After that, off to Stablemates painting! You can take as much time as you’d like in the shaded Craft & Activity Tent to paint. Choose from a variety of Stablemate molds and paint colors and set to work on your new creation! You can paint a new Stablemate EACH DAY of the event!

Also located in the Craft & Activity tent is the Hobby Center. This is a great place to do some hands-on learning about the model horse hobby! Whether you just started collecting yesterday or you’re a longtime hobbyist, you’ll learn something new here. With a rotating schedule of demonstrations from experienced members of the model horse hobby, there’s so many different things you can learn: tack making, showing, customizing, and more! One highlight is Anne Field’s judging clinic. No cost to sign up, but you must pre-register (more about this on the BreyerFest Blog in a few weeks). Learn about model horse showing from a judge’s perspective, improve your showing skills, and learn the basics of judging!

At this point, it’s probably the hottest part of the day. Head over to the Visitor’s Information Center for some cold air and cool seminars! Seminars start at the top of every hour from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Friday and Saturday of BreyerFest. With topics such as model horse show documentation, the Norwegian Dole horse, Sgt. Reckless, and so much more! And on Sunday the Equus Film Festival takes over the theater!

Once you’ve cooled off, make your way to Celebration Park for fun for all ages! Younger BreyerFest guests may enjoy pony rides, a petting zoo, the Big Dig excavation pit, and a Kids Jump-Off and Barrel Racing competition (bring your hobby horses for these if you’d like!). There’s also free face painting and the Big Fun Circus with hula hooping, puppet shows, bubbles, dancing, parachute, friendship bracelet making, and more! Plus, Celebration Park is home to the Dock Dogs competition. Watch dogs of all sizes and breeds make a big splash as they compete in Big Air Wave, Extreme Vertical, and Speed Retrieve competitions all weekend long!

Need a break from the sun? Head to the Covered Arena for some shade and equine entertainment! There’s always something exciting happening in the Covered Arena! See Sylvia Zerbini, mounted pony games, Nordic breeds, and SO MUCH MORE. There’s too many different disciplines, breeds, and exciting equine acts to list them all! Covered Arena programming lasts all day every day!

Did you see an amazing horse in the Covered Arena? Fell in love with one of the Limited Edition portrait horses? Another chance to get up close & personal with the amazing guest horses during BreyerFest is autographs! There are 36 different autograph sessions during BreyerFest where you can meet & greet with horses, their owners and riders! Take pictures, get your models signed, meet the stars of BreyerFest – all free!

If you’ve got a ticket that includes a Corgi Hill Flinka Model, and you’re not in a rush to get your model signed, you can wait until the end of the day to head over to Model Handout to pick up your event models. Models are dependent on your ticket, see the ticket page for more details.

What a day it’s been! And the fun continues in the evening at the Clarion Hotel with the Artisans’ Gallery and Swap Meet. Or head back to your bed and watch the replay of the live Broadcast!

All of this fun is included in your BreyerFest ticket!