Opening morning of Lilyfest 2023 and my Interview with Cameron Fontana

Cameron Fontana of WSYX moments after wrapping our live interview at Lillyfest 2023

I was invited to Bishop Gardens early in the morning on the opening day of Lilyfest as a rookie vendor and new artist-in-residence, to interview with Cameron Fontana of Channel 6 WYSX. It was great fun and you can read about it below, but the real stars are the gardens themselves! I was graced with some time to simply stroll through a small bit of Bishop Gardens in the early morning as a light rain was beginning to ease up. A few volunteers were deadheading lavender, otherwise I had the place to myself for a few quiet moments… and this is what I saw:

Early morning at Bishop Gardens

My interview with Cameron Fontana

After my time in the gardens, Cameron stopped by my vendor booth to chat about bamboo on live TV. He’s a super personable guy and makes it very easy to be interviewed. I brought a torch and a piece of bamboo to demonstrate a technique I use in heat treating my pieces. As I was doing this on live TV with Cameron looking on and asking questions, the piece of bamboo popped- Bamboo being a hollow tube, if there is a weak spot, by heating the trapped air inside it can instantaneously split open lengthwise, creating a loud bang, almost like a gunshot, and the inner silk lining of the tube which is like tissue paper, shoots out of the split like confetti. There we are, camera rolling, and this thing goes off like a gunshot showering him in bits of white confetti, and he asks “what just happened?” I explain it’s a rare occurrence and follow up saying “that’s how it got it’s name, when that happens it goes BAM and you go BOO”. (For the record, I don’t thinks that’s actually true, but it sure sounds good.)

Afterwards we both had a good laugh, because that literally is a super rare occurrence, perhaps once or twice a year. Though when you’re quietly working in the house, the sound of a 22 shell popping of in your hand will make you jump right out of your skin, laughing your ass off on the way down as you realize it was just the bamboo meaning no harm! So for it to happen right then, with both of us rolling right along with it as if it were scripted, well, probably made for for pretty decent TV.