WESTMINSTER, Md. — They may not resemble the simple bunny and chick PEEPs of your grandparents’ youth, or even that of your parents for that matter, but each year the decorators out due themselves trying to come up with the best PEEP creations at this highly anticipated PEEP Show in Westminster.
“The PEEP Show is our pulse on pop culture really,” said Stephen Strosnider of the Carroll County Arts Council, “Whatever is in the news, whatever is the biggest thing streaming, you’re going to see it here. K-pop Demon Hunters, Stranger Things, we have a lot of “six-seven” entries of course and those tried and true. We’ll see Lord of the Rings, LEGOS, Star Wars.”
Take a look at the pieces on display at the PEEP Show in Westminster
The artists are limited only by their imagination, some opting for the macabre or patriotic, while one even slipped in a rather descriptive health message about the need for colonoscopies.
“Never in my wildest dreams and I’d seen a couple of things on the website---the crab and things, but never all of this,” said Cindy Fincham of Finksburg who brought her grandchildren to the exhibit, “This is amazing.”
The company out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which has produced PEEPs since 1953 is a sponsor of this event in Westminster.
Just Born Quality Confections even donates thousands of PEEPs for the artists to work with.
“It is about… right under 1,300 PEEPs that went into this one,” said Angel Jarrett as she showed us the large bunny she had crafted from the treats, “Luckily, they make blue, white and yellows so that made life a little bit easier. I didn’t have to paint them, but it took about a week and a half… a lot of hot gluing.”
A lot of time and effort to transform otherwise simple, marshmallow figures into masterpieces---all to support the Carroll County Arts Council.
“That first year, we had 60 entries, and it has grown, and now this year, 196 entries so while there are a couple of PEEP shows or PEEP shows around the country that do something similar, we are by far the largest PEEP exhibit of this kind in the nation,” added Strosnider.
The exhibit is free to the public, but visitors can pay to vote on their favorite works or to take one home to help raise funds for the council’s other programs offered throughout the year.
