400 Pound Plus Pumpkins and a Carving Knife

by Jamie Rhein on

Gus Smithhisler carves pumpkins like nobody’s business. I saw him at work this past Saturday at Jack Hanna’s Fall Fest at the Columbus Zoo where Gus was turning the most enormous pumpkins into animal art. Being ever so on my toes, I grabbed his card and contact information.

Gus has emailed me back to let me know of his upcoming engagements. If you get a chance to see him at work, don’t miss it. Since fall is officially here, consider this a fall festival kick off. Gus is appearing at a few festivals in addition to his Las Vegas gig. By the way, if you go to his Web site, you’ll see his handy work. He started out a few years ago at the Indiana State Fair and his business keeps growing.

If you do see Gus, he may give you some pumpkin seeds so you can grow your own monsters at home. The photo is from last year’s zoo event. Gus’s daughter helps him from time to time.

Bat Fest 2007 and Two More Bat Places

by Jamie Rhein on

There are a places where bats in their natural habitat take center stage adding to the tourist draw of a place. I’ve been to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico where bats fly out every evening from April to October (or thereabouts) and to the Bat Pagoda in Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. This is where bats bigger than a dinner plate hang in trees everywhere you look.

I found out this past Wednesday when I was at the Columbus Zoo for the last Wednesday night kid’s program of the summer, (It makes me sad to write that) that the Bat Fest is going on next weekend, September 1-2, in Austin, Texas. Mark Tillack, otherwise known as Musical Mark, and one of the performers for the program, has come up with a series of bat songs geared for children. This has put him on a quest to find out more about all things bats. The Bat Fest caught his attention. When he mentioned it to me as we were talking after his show, it caught my attention. Here’s what I found out.

The Bat Fest is a large arts and crafts show with bat events. For example, if you come dressed as a bat you can win a prize–a serious prize. The best bat costume can fetch $200. The Batman Stage features different musicians (maybe a possible stop for Ember?) and there are rides, food and educational displays besides quality craft and art items to buy. From the photos, it looks like some are bat related and some are just nifty.