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Gourd festival long on artistry, but short on attendees
By Tony Reid
tony.reid@lee.net
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CLINTON — You’d have to be out of your gourd to miss the Illinois Gourd Festival and Competition, but lots of people did.

The two-day event, hosted at Clinton Junior High School, saw so-so crowds Saturday, but visitors were decidedly thin on the ground come Sunday.

“People just don’t know a lot about gourds,” explains Mattoon gourd artist Debbie Wiles, 55. “And there are some beautiful ones here.”

She had quite a few of them herself — gourds the size of beach balls exquisitely painted and carved to look like giant jack-o’-lanterns. Others, as tiny as golf balls, were transformed into finely detailed Santas or plump snowmen, the painting following every curve and line of nature’s already fantastic designs.

A few exhibitor tables across from Wiles, the stunning Native American-themed creations of Ralph Irish took center stage. Irish, a 58-year-old special education teacher from near Macomb, makes gourd rattles with handles that end in real turkey and coyote feet, decked out in rawhide and rabbit fur decoration and stained to look as if they were unearthed from Cahokia Mounds on some archeological dig.

Or how about gourd thunder drums, which sound like thunder really is bottled up inside them, or a highly-decorated gourd rain stick where cascading beads uncannily imitate the noise of a steady downpour?

“Now who wants to look at gourds?” asks Irish with an ironic smile, as he walks by a competition display where several of his efforts took blue first-place ribbons. “It’s hard to get people to come out and see what we can do.”

But it did mean those who did show up were spoiledt for choice, with almost everything for sale and some prices as low as $5 or less. “This is the first time I’ve been to the festival,” said visitor Paula Hany, 48, who lives in Saybrook near Bloomington. “And I’m glad I came.”

Some 15 experts brought along their wares and showed off the range of what can be done to transmute gourds into art. “As well as painting, you can wood-burn them and you can carve them,” said Bonnie Cox, 69, the newly elected president of the Illinois Gourd Society, which claims 163 members. “You can treat gourds like a piece of wood, and some can be as much as an inch thick.”

Crowds are likely to be thicker at next year’s festival, too, according to Cox. “It’s going to be held at the Chicago Botanic Garden,” she said. “And they can have 10,000 visitors in one day.”

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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

lindini wrote on Sep 22, 2008 2:23 PM:

" I agree with moon mullins, write a story before not after the event.

That being said, uh, arty gourd festival huh? I think you would need to get a monster truck rally - maybe launch the gourdinator to smash 'em good, before the majority in Clinton would wander down! "

Alli wrote on Sep 22, 2008 1:16 PM:

" Martha Stewart did an article about gourd sculpting a couple years ago...And here we had a festival!!! Who knew? "

moon mullins wrote on Sep 22, 2008 11:58 AM:

" I've always been amused how reporters will write about an event after it happened. And then wonder why few people showed up. If they're so concerned, why don't they also announce the event before it happens? Not everybody reads the column that mentions upcoming community activities. Sycamore, Illinois has had a pumpkin festival for many years. They are judged on size and other categories. It is always well attended. "

RTL wrote on Sep 22, 2008 11:00 AM:

" We have a gourd with two very lovely painting/carving on it that was given to us. However, would I spend time at a gourd festival? No. Nor would I probably buy one. Just don't think there is a big interest in art on gourds, even though the art is good. Sorry. "

Sam Wainwright wrote on Sep 22, 2008 9:25 AM:

" I think scheduling really hurt them this year- the Illinois Scrabble Afficianodos "Scrabble Marathon for the Cure" was on the same day. "
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