Three Rivers, "The Birdhouse Man!"

Birdhouses for every occasion!

Birdhouses with pitchfork perches, birdhouses with golf club perches… perches of Jimmy Durante noses attached to long, tall abodes for our feathery friends. Houses made of tin and assorted wood combinations, colored in various designs and textures. Stripes, polka dots, fancy filigreed entrance holes, LSU colored and logo-ed homes and, of course, the ubiquitous fleur-de-lis laden houses for all those fine, feathered fans of the New Orleans Saints.

Well, you name it, this guy had it… it seemed.

He was one of few booths in my block, at the Three Rivers festival,  that was selling items late in the afternoon, which was why this sketch isn't as nice as the first one. It's not bad, just not as good. He only sat still for about a minute or two, which was just enough for me to think I could capture him with his varied products.

I never did get to show him my finished product because he slipped behind his tent and was never seen again until we all were in our disassembly mode at the end of the day. Let me tell you, building your tented booth in anticipation is a hell of a lot more fun than disassembling it at the end of a long weekend!

And, I wonder if his sales would have been even better if his tent was actually... a giant birdhouse!

Copyright 2013/Ben Bensen III