Breyerfest 2023 – Attending the Virtual Celebration
Posted on August 10, 2023 by Aywren
I mentioned last month that I was attending the online version of Breyerfest 2023. Breyerfest is similar to a gaming fanfest, only it’s a celebration of horses and the model horse community.
What is Breyerfest?
Like a gaming fanfest, it is a live 3-day event held in the Kentucky Horse Park every July. Ever since COVID, however, they also host a virtual version of the event, which is the one that I went to.
I only just got into collecting Breyer horses back in early June of this year. While I’ve known about them my entire life, for some reason, I never thought to look them up as an adult until recently. And what a rabbit hole this has been!
I went back and forth whether to purchase a ticket for Breyerfest at first. But then, I noticed the cost of the online ticket covered not just entry to the online event, but a guaranteed “Celebration Horse” model that everyone tends to get.
So, I thought that was fair – get a ticket, get access to the event, get a “free” model just for attending, and then have access to the real excitement – the rare Breyerfest special run and web special models that you can purchase from the store during this time. I also thought it would be a shame to miss Breyerfest the very first year I’d gotten into the hobby, so I picked up a ticket as a way of celebrating my entry into collecting these horses.
Breyerfest Virtual Events
As you can see below, the online Breyerfest event dashboard provides lots and lots to look at.
There was a constant live broadcast that included news from the horse park as the host walked around and spoke with attendees and visited with the horses.
There was also a simultaneous live feed from the horse arena where equestrian events were taking place throughout the day.
I tended to run both feeds in different monitors and just alternate between muting the one I didn’t want to focus on at a certain time. Interviews were interesting, along with a tour of a coach house and learning about the real horses that many of the models were actually based on.
It was also neat to watch these horses in action, so alternating to the arena when shows popped up was super nice. Then, of course, there was the main show – The Celebration of Horses – that happened on both Friday and Saturday nights. This show was the same-ish both times, but seeing that it was streamed live, it was kinda neat to be able to view the small differences between the nights.
Lots of talent here!
Aside from this, there were seminars, workshops, galleries, auctions, contests, raffles, model horse shows and… of course… the shopping.
Now for the Special Models!
The shopping for limited edition models is a huge draw to Breyerfest, obviously. Unless you attend, you do not get a first chance at purchasing these horses at all (I hear there might be a second chance sale later on, but don’t know how that works).
There’s swap meets and booths for selling horses at the live event. In fact, collectors rally to stay at the same hotel where they open up their hotel rooms as a shopping experience for other collectors to come by and browse. It sounds like a lot of fun to go IRL!
I must admit that I was rather excited, too. While we’d seen previews of the models being sold as special runs already, Breyer does this thing called “variations” where you don’t know until Breyerfest opens that some models may have a different version available. This could be a variation in color. A different model shape (mane or tail changes), or the model might be available as glossy instead of matte. That sort of thing.
Then there’s a Surprise horse every year. Think of this like a game gatcha, but for model horses.
Not only do you not know which horse variation you might get from the Surprise, you don’t even know what model it’s going to be… until the first horses are bought and people start sharing it on the forums or Facebook (this community is big on Facebook).
I didn’t know what special run I was going to be picked for as I bought a ticket at the last moment. I got drawn for the Stagecoach Surprise.
In the end, I bought the surprise, even though I didn’t know what I would get. I also bought the store special called Studebaker, which was revealed to have a lovely blue version (which turned out to be super rare).
The blue version eventually sold for big bucks on Ebay (which is also very popular with collectors for the secondary market).
Note, this SOLD for $1,720 – with 20 bids. And the original price of the horse was $75.
Sadly, I do see a lot of folks taking to Ebay to make a profit off the models almost as soon as they realize that they have a special variation. Some were putting their horses up for sale while still at the live event! I guess that’s the nature of this sort of hobby – some of these horses can cost a lot, and folks recoup their spending sprees by hoping to pull jackpot variations.
As for me, I got the normal Studebaker and the most common Stagecoach Surprise, but I’m okay with that. In fact, I think my Studebaker has become one of my favorite models in my current collection, so I’m happy with what I purchased in the end.
Going to my first virtual Breyerfest was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about horses, a lot about the collection hobby and community, and picked up some horses that will be rare on down the line. What’s not to like?
Looking forward to what next year’s Breyerfest brings!
