I went to the annual Harvest Festival at the Del Mar Fairgrounds this past weekend, and let me just say I saw some interesting gems there: every year for the festival, exhibition halls that usually house bunnies and chickens during the summer fill up with a variety of vendors eager to sell their handmade items, or food, or art. Needless to say, there were a lot of homemade fudge bars and hand-painted Christmas signs, and people trying to hand me business cards.

That’s not to say that beyond these expected festival clichés, there weren’t some awesome things for sale. I saw a guy selling tie dyed clothes – VELVET tie dyed clothes. I have no idea how tie dying velvet would be physically possible, but I’m guessing it can only be done with some kind of magic like a unicorn’s tears or dragon blood; they were that awesome.

Then a few booths over, a guy was selling “Party Animals” – terrifyingly furry colored animals on marionette strings. I think the Festival always has a good potpourri of these things – really awesome stuff that you want to buy the heck out of, and strange creations that are just fun to look at. I saw old ladies with foam crowns on their heads, bags of kettle corn roughly the size of an infant, and jewelry fashioned out of old spoons, or typewriter keys, or tiny clay beads.

If you like the eccentric, the creative, and the inspired, I suggest you head over to the Del Mar Fairgrounds for the Harvest Festival next year – even if you don’t buy anything, you’ll meet some characters.