21st Annual Big Sur Jade Festival - Day Three

With a slight bit of trepidation I went to bed last night wondering if the previous night's pleasantness sleeping in the back seat of my car could be repeated or was it a mere fluke: fortunately it was not. Following an even more pleasant sleep I awoke refreshed and feeling much better than a good many others in the show and its surrounding environs whom partied a bit too hardy last night. This was by far my favorite Big Sur Jade Festival experience to date and working for Kirk Brock in his Rock Solid Jade booth was great.  I actually got paid to be somewhere at which I would have been willing to pay to be anyway and do I love doing anyway. Kirk was generous and the neighbors were great and the overall crowd was for the most part a pleasure. The weather cooperated this year (many years rain and/or wind is a concern or an outright logistical reality) after the close call last years (storm cell parked over the festival site two days before set-up day) and less frequently but still an issue some years is wildfire in the nearby mountains such as was the case in 2008. The only dramas and traumas this year were the fairly routine human-caused ones. The price of gas combined with the overall economic reality of our time plus the Harbor Festival down the coast in Morro Bay caused overall visitation to seem a bit down this year. However, attendance seemed to fall well within the normal annual fluctuation range of past years even if in the more moderate to below average range. Below are the images I captured of today and they are shown in the order in which they were taken.  

Be sure to check out Day One and Day Two of this event. 

Morning view of Day Three kicking off for the home stretch of the weekend.

Not all jade nuts have a one-track mind for jade: some are well-rounded rockhounds.

Yeah, I thought of that, too!

Local Big Sur jade.

I could not resist taking another image of this display. It's simplicity is matched by its effectiveness.

I could not get over the coolness of the displays in this year's jade festival.

Hot women and cool dogs are two endearing and enduring highlights of this annual festival.

In fact, dog events aside, no event I have ever attended has as many dogs as the jade festival.

Furniture seems to be growing in prominence and prevalence at this event and I like what I see.

More cool jade displays/furniture.

View from Kirk Brock's Rock Solid Jade booth today.

One of our dealer neighbors, Allen, of Love-Harmony (his business name).

The one and only Brian Hendricks, designer of the unique and distinct Jade Festival designs.

Jade Festival regulars Chris Poelma and Dan Beck, whom travel yearly from Kansas for this event.

Dan "Da Man" Manion, past president of the SLO Gem & Mineral Club is a festival regular.

There is no shortage of characters at the Big Sur Jade Festival.

The source of the previously-mentioned honey lemonade.

One of today's acts performing and some festival guests grooving to it.

One booth has this dog for a mascot: the jade pendent on its neck is a piece of jade once left accidentally in this booth.

Dust is one of the biggest nuisances at the Jade Festival. That is Willow Creek gold in the small plastic case.

Shadows extending as the day (and the festival) near their end. Note the wind-sculpted vegetation.

With the show just-ended now comes the rush as dealers work to break down their booths and clear out.

Some dealers will spend one more night here before taking off in the morning.

Bella The Dog was my neighbor all weekend long.

Mike and Jimbo break down their booth next to the white pickup.

Everybody clearing out and heading home.

With the gathering darkness the stragglers pitch tents once again for one final night here.

All photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).