Justin Bieber won't be auctioned at Hors'n Around Unbridled Fun Gala and Auction Saturday

The  Hors'n Around Unbridled Fun Gala and Auction will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday under tents set up behind Stella's Station, 150 Partition Street, Saugerties.

The decorated horses that have been adorning Saugerties streets during the summer, including a certain controversial one, will be put up for auction.

Proceeds for the event go to the Saugerties Area Council of Churches (for its food pantry), the Cahill School PTA (for theplayground), participating artists and the Saugerties Chamber of Commerce.

Tickets are $25.

Horse looked in the mouth - UPDATED

Horses once again will reign over the village as part of the “Hors’n Around Saugerties 2010” exhibit.

But there's a horse you may not enjoy fully.

West Shokan writer Martha Frankel informed me on Wednesday night a fiberglass horse that contains passages from one of her books has been flagged because of two complaints.

Apparently, some of the words in the horse - like "abortion," "miscarriage," "penis" and "vagina" - are not sitting well with some residents, and the Saugerties Area Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event, is discussing the issue.

Frankel said that has been told that for inclusion, she has alter the submission and omit the words, which she doesn't want to do because she said the passages are written with empathy and because it would alter the artist's vision. There are now discussions about putting black tape on the horses' mouth and to mask the apparently offensive passages.

For the record, here's the pornographic horse:



Shocking, I know.

This raises important questions:

* What's a "vagina"?
* Why is Martha Frankel calling me?
* What's up with all this horsing around artists' "Hors'n Around" entries?

We'll keep you posted.

UPDATE: I have found out what a vagina is. I'll let you know about the rest later.

UPDATE 2 : Martha Frankel speaks out! (kind-of)




There were a couple of complaints, apparently, but I'm told that before the Chamber discussed the issue with Frankel she decided to take matters into her own hands - with tape.

The writer says:

I went out to Saugerties and blacked out all words that people might have found offensive. ... One sentence said, "When Mara was born I loved her so much I would put her feet in my mouth."

The artist that did the work with Frankel blacked out 'feet' and 'mouth'.

So now the "cleaned" horse reads: "When Mara was born I loved her so much I would put her --- in my ----."

Problem solved!

Also, a korrecshun, the horse has no "penis."