I did, but only because I learned about it at SLIFF a few years ago. Mickey's Pets was a short doc about a girl who enters the championship and has to taxidermy a peacock. The year the movie was made, the championships were in Peoria, Illinois, which itself isn't too far from StL.
The event looked like a fun thing to go see, and for the last couple of years it's been in Springfield, Missouri. This year, we made it down!
The drive there was a bit hairy, with some crazy storms rolling through the area. Plus, the quantity of deceased and partially decomposed armadillos was out of control. I had heard they were moving north -- we even killed one that was in our yard -- but I had no idea they were movin' on up in such force. It's an invading army of armadillos!
We stopped for dinner at Smoky J's in Marshfield, Missouri, and each got pizzas. They were not the best pizzas ever, but they were decent, and after a rough drive they were everything we hoped for. The beer choices were limited, and we opted for Bud Light from a kegerator. That would have been exactly as satisfying as one would expect a Bud Light from a kegerator to be -- if our waitress had ever served one before. Nevertheless, in a funny way it added to the charm of a small town pizza joint en route to a taxidermy show.
We stayed the night in our camper in Marshfield, and headed into Springfield for breakfast in the morning. We had been to The Aviary before -- when we were in Springfield for WhiskeyFest, and again, it did not disappoint.
The taxidermy show was totally worth the trip. We all watch the Olympics or the World Series or the Stanley Cup or various other championship events with a passing admiration for the people participating in the subject event. The awesome thing about the taxidermy champs was this: the judging had happened only the day before, and the judges will talk each participant through their score. Presumably, this is so they can improve in coming years. For the visiting public, what this means is that we get to hear a little snipped of the scoring recap as we tour the floor. "Do you see how there's a little tool mark here on the eyelid? That should have been corrected with a soft paintbrush before the final display?" Or "see this line on the fish here? That should be raised a bit. You need to sand in this direction, then wet the tip of your pinky finger and run it in the opposite direction to enlarge the grain of the wood." What?!?
Yes. It's that detailed. Here are some of the favorites:
Catfish
This was a super neat one. The artist had found a partial lion hide and turned it into sort of a melting lion, symbolic of the loss of habitat.
Look at the detail of this cape buffalo eating grass!
Cuttlefish
My new friend the tiger
This one is neat -- propped up on his tail!
The spit trail left behind by this buffalo's tongue -- another impressive detail.
A binturong -- they do not smell like Frito's when they are stuffed.
Who knew they could taxidermy these things?
This one blew my mind. Since 1940, it has been illegal to "take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or
barter, transport, export or import, at any time or any manner, any bald
eagle ..., alive or dead, or any part, nest, or
egg thereof." (This was expanded to include golden eagles in 1962.) Seeing this blew my mind. There are some exceptions in the acts, and the back of the base for this beast had a big Ziploc bag taped to it that said "LEGAL PAPERS." All I wanted to do was open it and find out what the deal was, but S made sure I was escorted to another room before I could get in trouble.
The drive home from Springfield takes you past some of Missouri's best tourist traps, and since we had some time, we stopped to enjoy them -- and also watch the Kentucky Derby at the bar in Uranus.
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