Conquistadors brave the cool air during Spring Fling

By Joey West / The Citizen

Saturday, April 3, 2004 6:10 PM EST

CONQUEST - Bobbi Jo Simons, a mother, wife and entrepreneur, sat huddled next to her husband of 33 years on Saturday looking to sell a few items that she had painstakingly made at home.
The couple were among the dozens of people enduring the cold air at the Conquest Recreation Field on Fuller Road for the Spring Fling craft show and sale. The Committee for the Conquest Recreational Field hoped to raise enough funds to construct permanent bathrooms at the site. There were a pair of portable lavatories at the site Saturday.

It was the first year for the Spring Fling. In planning for the event, the committee consulted with Kathleen Springer, a founder of Weedsport's Old Tyme Christmas program.

The Spring Fling included antique, craft and food vendors, along with craft demonstrations and raffles.

The Simons' did there part to make permanent toilets at the field a reality. Dressed in enough layers to make them comfortable in February, the couple listened to some soft music, waiting for the next customer to buy one of her hand-drawn portraits, many of them of NASCAR drivers.

Bobbi sells portraits, home-made clothes pin baskets that look like a young girls' dress, hats and dish cloths.

"They are a lot better at picking up bread and toast crumbs off the table rather than having to sweep them on the floor," Bobbi said of the dish cloths.

She also makes baby blankets and does the matting and framing for her portraits. The price tag for a pencil-drawn portrait ranged from $10 to $30, depending on difficulty and framing.

"All done out of a barn," she said of her art studio, which sits next to the couple's Bonta Bridge Road home in Jordan. Her husband built the studio for her last year.

"He probably got tired of tripping over everything in the house," she said. "I've been drawing since I was old enough to hold a pencil. I do paintings and stuff, but I can sit at my kitchen table with a pencil. It doesn't take up much room. When he hooks up cable in the studio, I will spend more time out there."

Simons has donated items to different charities in the area. Bobbi and John decided after their children were grown that her hobby could make them and charities some money.

Staff writer Joey West can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or joey.west@lee.net

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