With THE LANDON at the Dairyville PEZ Gathering...

As we love PEZ gatherings and conventions,

we are happy to share with you another wonderful review, this time from

the Dairyville PEZ Gathering, written by PEZ PAL

THE LANDON

 

enjoy it :)

 

 

 

Pez Gatherings and Conventions are usually more about the people who collect dispensers than they are about the Pez.

Yes of course there is Pez buying new and selling and trading and chatter and news all about Pez but seeing old friends, meeting new ones and seeing someone who you talked to for years for the first time face to face is what gatherings are all about.

The Dairyville Pez Gathering hosted by the amazing Tina Gunsauls embodies everything I love about collecting. Here is my adventure!

My adventure starts at Wednesday afternoon in sunny Orlando, FL with a 6 hour flight to Ontario, CA (just outside Los Angeles). There I meet up with one of my favorite people in the world, Jessica Orozco.

Lots of hugs and no sleep later, it is Thursday and we are on the road.

I love an epic road trip and when you are with Jessica and her momma, Barbara, you know you it's going to be a blast.

We made it 4 or 5 hours into our road trip when a message from Brent Johnson sent us on a spontaneous side quest. We immediately changed course and headed to his house. As you expect, Brent had a warm welcome ready for us and showed us some of his toy collection, some fantastic poster art and of course his Pez collection.

Brend, Barbara, Jessica, & Landon

The town he lives in, Discovery Bay, is a hidden paradise in the middle of an otherwise desolate and dry part of California. 

He is surrounded by water and beautiful homes on the water.

A trip to the marina proved how beautiful his town is.

 

Moments later we were back on the road to Dairyville. We all got checked in to the hotel and lingered for a few minutes and then we were off to Tina's house!

When we arrived, we were greeted by Tina and learned that Pezamania stars, the Glihas and the Marlowes were already there as well as west coast favorites, the Alexanders. Moments later, I got to meet a Pez pal face to face for the first time! Isn't that exciting?! It was no other than Doron Gazit and his son, Ben all the way from Israel. 

 

 

We agreed we were hungry and went to dinner as a group at Tina's daughter's restaurant, Mill Creek. We had a delicious dinner of good ol fashioned home cooking prepared by Tina's lovely and talented daughter. After some good laughs and some good memory sharing, everyone went to bed to prepare for the weekend.

Friday starts as a sight seeing day for me and for most early arrivals. Some people chose to go hiking, others visited local parks and checked out the local history, while I got to visit an antique mall and a local brewery. Off to Tina's by 2pm to hang out with many new arrivals and by 6pm we were being fed yet again. At this point; you are introduced to the culinary talents of David, who is Tina's husband. This man does it all and is a master of the grill.

(Tina, if you're reading this, can I have the macaroni salad recipe?!)

It may be an unusual thing to include in a Pez report

but those tomatoes were to die for!

David Gunsauls slicing locally grown tomatoes

.

 Dairyville is teaming with local produce!

We got our bellies full and shared even more stories with one another and before you knew it, it was time for bed. Well kinda... The stars are in full view in Dairyville and with the Perseid meteor shower, it was a great night to star gaze. Although there weren't many shooting stars that night, we had a relaxing night under the stars in Dairyville.

Saturday! The main event! 10am and Tina's house is in full on Pez collecting mode! Tina's collection is on display and features some beautiful pieces! Her store was open for shopping and you could pretty much pick up anything you needed from her! Several people had set up tables to sell their candy treasures.

 

 I even made a few amazing purchases myself! The attendee pack is awesome and it blows my mind at the generosity of our host!

 

 

Dinner bell rings and it's time to eat again! This time, Chef David has prepared steak and chicken.

Have I mentioned that David is a grill master?! More mingling with more Pez collectors. So many people I haven't seen in years and many I was meeting for the first time. All of them are now my friends for life.

Game time!

Bingo is the name-o!

So many happy winners and it was fun to watch how excited people are to win. From yells of excitement to happy dances, everyone was ecstatic! Then 2 amazing raffles and one lucky person walked away with a covered grandstand from Showtime Displays and another walked away with the super awesome Pez Palz blog dispenser!

 

And before you know it, people started to say good bye and hugs were given.

One more meal with about 50 or 60 of my closest friends to end the evening at Mill Creek and the final wave of goodbyes hit.

 

Tina's generosity is beyond kind and I feel honored to have been invited to her home to share in a part of her life.

The friends, both new and old, are all appreciated and I loved seeing you all and swapping stories with you. With more than 100 people in attendance, this gathering maintained the feel of a small get together with friends who are just happy to sit and talk with each other about the one thing that we all love.

 

Landon & Tina

Thank you Landon for your great report, and all the pictures