Longaberger…

I never imagined that I’d be one of those people.

Before I was married, I had never even heard of Longaberger.  I had no idea that there were baskets (yes, baskets!) out there that people would pay big bucks for.

$100.00 for a BASKET? Seriously???  Is it plated in GOLD?  Will it do the dishes for me????

To begin to understand the insanity that revolves around these baskets you have to start at their home office.  Take a look at this.

That is a seven story tall basket/office building.  It’s located in Newark, Ohio.

I’ve visited “The Basket” several times over the last ten years, and each time is still surreal.   It’s just plain and simple cool to look at.  It’s patterned after the Medium Market Basket.  Just 160 times wider and taller.  The kids love it.

Those are real brass and wooden rivets used to attach the handles and along the top of the basket.   The handles are heated to prevent ice from forming.  The name plates on the sides of the building weigh 750 lbs  each and are plated in gold.  Maybe that’s why they charge so much for those baskets, they have to pay for the home office.

At the beginning of the post I said I never thought I’d be one of those people, meaning a basket collector.  Nothing against those with the means to spend a couple hundred of dollars on baskets (my Mother In Law, for example), I just couldn’t do it.  Even if I had the money.  Which I don’t.  I appreciate them for their beauty, and the fact that they’re hand made, in Ohio.  The family and the company has a very interesting history, and for those reasons, I find myself returning to the Big Basket and the Longaberger Homestead whenever I’m in the area.

After a quick stop at the Big Basket, I headed down to Frazeyburg to visit the Homestead, retail Mecca for all things Longaberger.  This was shortly before Christmas, so the entire complex was decorated in the festive trimmings of the season.

How much would you pay for a basket?  I mean truly, and I’m speaking to those of you who might actually be collectors as well as the rest of us.  How much is too much?  Let’s say that you have $1,000 in your purse.  Would you ever consider dropping that on a basket?  Who’s curious to see what a thousand dollar basket looks like?

That’s it, folks.  That’s a thousand dollar basket.  I know, it’s a little blurry, my apologies.  From the Longaberger website:

“Hand-polished walnut is inlaid with maple on the base and rim to contrast with the texture of the weaving. Protector included with Basket.”

Well, it’s nice to know they included the $20.00 plastic liner with it at least. And I realize it might be difficult to figure the scale out, but trust me, a bowling ball and not much else would fit into it.  Not that you’d put a bowling ball into a thousand dollar basket, but… Yeah.

Well, I guess someone somewhere might put a bowling ball into a thousand dollar basket…

I don’t know.

Okay, on to the hot stuff.

Literally.

For the record, I’m not going to taste test any of the concoctions in these bottles.  I do, however, have a guinea pig who I’m willing to try them out on.  I’m not sure which bottle would be first, the one labeled X treme, Raw Heat, Pain 85%, or the one with the dude screaming.  Probably the one labeled Raw Heat.  Call me crazy, but I suspect it’s spicy.

Inside the Crawford barn.  It’s rustic.  I like it.  I really like it.  Like the company, the barn itself has a hell of a history.  It was originally owned by Colonel George Crawford.  The first barn was burned down by the local Democrats, (holy hell, imagine that!), and was rebuilt.  A little over ten years ago or so it was moved from Newark to Frazeysburg.

Cowboy Santas.  I love them :)

My last stop of the day….

The World’s Largest Basket of Apples.  I’m all about tacky roadside attractions, I’ve seen the World’s biggest cheese wheel, The Living Bible Museum (a must see, if only for the wax figure of Job.  Poor guy),  the Butter Jesus, and more than a few Ripley’s Museums.  This basket is probably the least tacky attraction I’ve visited.

That pretty much sums up my solo trip to the Big Basket and the Homestead, I have to say that the chance to get out on my own (read without children) provided some much needed quiet time.  I didn’t buy any baskets (clearly), but I did find a number of things to ooh and ahh over.  I’ll go back when it’s warmer, after all, I’m one of those people.  I’m a fan.