Okay, I know I literally just wrote about Knott’s Berry Farm’s amazing Boysenberry Festival, but you’ll have to endure another post about it! Because first, it’s hard to eat all of the unique food offerings and enjoy all of the fun live entertainment all in one day! Plus, last Wednesday was National Boysenberry Day!

Shortly after we moved to California, I met and befriended a gal by the name of Kiley. Despite having insanely different backgrounds, I a theatre kid, her a jock, we quickly bonded over I Love Lucy, Disneyland, a love of roadside attractions, and much more. One day during a visit to Knott’s we popped into the Western Trails Museum, and spied this photograph…

That’s Walter Knott on the right, in case you’re wondering.

Immediately we said “We have to make that for next year’s Boysenberry Festival!” And after saying that for two years, we finally did it! And we couldn’t have picked a more perfect time to do it, as Knott’s decided to have a “Berry Best Dressed” contest to celebrate National Boysenberry Day!

Shockingly enough, the toughest part of this project wasn’t the painting! It was finding a good plain white dress! I really wasn’t up to the task of sewing a dress, and we figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find a half-way decent white 50s/early 60s style dress! But I ordered I think four different dresses before settling on this one, even though it didn’t have the correct neckline and wasn’t as long, it still worked out well! I also opted not to make the berries as dense as on the original.

As for the contest, Kiley and I came in as one of the runner ups, losing to an adorable child dressed up as a boysenberry pie. I mean, really, you never stand a chance against a cute kid!

Above is a familiar face, Deputy Mayor of Calico, Milton C. Howell, from Knott’s Berry Farm’s wildly successful Ghost Town Alive, an interactive experience that runs during summer – you can read about last year summer here. The Deputy Mayor acted as judge for the contest, and I couldn’t think of a better person for the event. He is quite the showman.

If I’m honest, I would love to get get more of my friends into these dresses, as I think it would me amazing to have a gaggle of us wearing these for next year! A reminder, Boysenberry Festival continues through April 28 if you are in the area! And I doubt this is the last of the Boysenberry Festival posts!

Outfit
Earrings: Belonged to my grandmother
Sweater: Amazon
Various Knott’s Berry Farm Pins: Knott’s Berry Farm
Dress: Amazon, then hand painted by me. Yes, I did both of them.
Shoes: Target

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