Junk Bonanza 2009 Part 1-Behind the Scenes

I arrived in MN for the Bonanza on Tuesday, The Junk Bonanza does not start till Thursday so I had already made arrangements with Ki to help out for the set up. I went to the facility at Canterbury Downs, first thing to check it all out. As I walk in, I see my roommate for the show Heather Bullard. I recognized her immediately and we said our hello's, with the usual hugs all around. After checking out the facility, I began to look for where I might be needed.
Things were already humming, and Ki was busy as usual.



Ki has a great team and above you see Irene and Kathy stuffing early bird gift bags. Sorry if I misspell names, please forgive me.

Matthew Mead even got in on the preparations by putting burlap bags over all the chair backs. That is Susan, Irene's sister in the background.

We stuffed over 200 gift bags with lots of great goodies.


In another part of the facility, Ki and her Sister Karla were getting the Revolution store ready.


Karla does all of the sewing for the great bags that Ki sells on her Junk Revolution site. She made all of these cart liners for the sale, and most of them were sold. Aren't they beautiful, I love the fabrics.



This is the Junk Corral staging area, it was beautiful when it was done, there was a lot of great stuff there. all with a western theme.

More Corral staging

Ki gets down and dirty setting up for the event. If you don't have a trash can handy, just stick the tape to your jeans, and keep going.

This is a funny sign I had to take a pic of. Everyone in MN says UBETCHA! It's one word. And they say I talk funny :)


I managed to tag along with Matthew Mead, his wife Jenny, and Heather for dinner. I learned lots about the magazine business. They are all really nice folks. and I'm glad they let me tag along. The magazine is going to be great by-the-way, I heard lots of great tid-bits that I cannot share. you'll just have to wait for it.

I've got over 300 pictures and lots more to share. This is just day 1 and I was there for 7 days.
I won't bore you with the trials and tribulations of traveling, except to say that my flight that was supposed to get me home at 9 last night, was canceled at midnight. I was in airports all day yesterday, and finally had to call a friend to rescue me and let me stay the night at her place. I rented a car and drove home this morning. It was all worth it as you'll see in the posts that follow.
Stay tuned!

Be sure and visit the sites I've highlighted in my post, for more great photo's and Bonanza Stories.