For three years, they consistently asked him to join the show. He said he finally gave in and hasn’t regretted the decision. “I’m happy or I wouldn’t’ have been out here seven years,” he said. “This is not a hobby. This is what I do for a living.” All of Garner’s work is custom made and takes from half an hour to several hours to complete. “Each hole is punched one at a time. Each stitch is put in by the nimble fingers you see before you now,” he said. “Everything I do is primitive style and I make it by hand. I don’t use machines.” Fair actors live modestly on the grounds four days each week for two months. Garner squeezed a cot, hot plate and a reading lamp in a corner of the booth. He doesn’t mind because it isn’t that much different from his daily lifestyle. “Everyone has told me I was born about 150 years too late,” he said. Garner and his wife of nearly 32 years live on 10 acres of land with a few cattle, chickens, and a hound. He chooses not to have a computer and only relented to buy a pay-by-the-minute cell phone five years ago because his wife worried about him while he traveled on sales trips.
“The only thing he’s up-to-date on is the phone,” said Sydney Marquez, Garner’s 16-year-old apprentice at the faire. “If you’re going to call him, it’s eight rings before he gets up.” A native of the Appalachian Mountains, Garner also eats simply and has done so for about 33 years. “We are primitive people from start to finish,” he said. “I hunt and trap. That’s how I fill our freezer. We even butcher our beef at home. I sugar cure hams, bacon—just the way my grandfather did, as close as I can get to it.” Garner has a garden and doesn’t buy much at the store except for paper goods. He also shares his way of life with fellow faire participants. He recently cured and barbequed a wild hog for one of the group’s late night dinners. Garner said he enjoys the time he spends with other vendors and performers. The diverse group is as unique as the stories they tell, but one thing that brings them together is a sense of community. “We’re all one big family,” he said. “We have an eight-week family reunion among the vendors and the cast. It’s just a family affair.”
Chantel Martin
Features
Bruce Garner outside of his Leather Man station.
May 5, 2011 • 51