For a gourd time: Pinal County festival breeds growing interest in hard-shelled fruit
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The annual Running of the Gourds Festival, an event that celebrates the fruit's growing popularity, has taken over Pinal County this weekend.
The Pinal Fairgrounds & Event Center has been a gourd-lover's paradise since Friday. Wuertz Gourd Farm, a family-owned gourd farm, has been putting on the festival for the past 12 years.
There will be more than 60,000 gourds for sale, co-owner Waylon Wuertz said. About 120 vendors will be showing roughly 5,000 pieces of art.
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"The diversity of all the gourd art is just amazing," Wuertz told the Casa Grande Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1xAIbVt).
A gourd is a type of fruit characterized by a hard shell and is often used for artwork. The items for sale at the festival range from $5 knick-knacks to $15,000 high-end art pieces, Wuertz said. Artists use gourds to make everything from hats to utensils.
The festivities will also include the return of Flash Gourden, a "gourd superhero" who sits on the front of a bicycle while someone else pedals. Children will also be able to learn about the uses of gourds in "kindergourden" classes. There are classes for adults too.
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Despite all the groan-worthy gourd puns, the fruit's use as the foundation for artwork is taken very seriously. A juried art show has drawn nearly 500 entries, Wuertz said.
Last year's three-day event drew nearly 12,000 people, according to organizers. The festival runs through Sunday.
Wuertz is a fourth-generation farmer who started growing gourds as a business in 2002. The Wuertz family has been farming in the Casa Grande and Coolidge area since 1929.
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Information from: Casa Grande Dispatch.