More than 300 bollard buddies will be displayed at annual Port Aransas

Port Aransas will be even more colorful and whimsical until mid-March as a local woman decorates the beach the with more than 300 yarn handmade creations from the Horace Caldwell Pier to the jetty.

For the sixth year, Port Aransas resident Diana Vondra has covered the vertical posts at the beach with "Bollard Buddies" made of colorful yarn. Others have joined her along the way, including Candice Tidmore of Corpus Christi, Barb Johnson of Oklahoma, Carol Gutchall of Michigan, and Kathy Bellamy, Judy Sears and Kaye Watts from Texas, along with many others.

"We've been making them all summer long," Vondra said. "Some are favorites from last year, so we started with a pretty large group already. People see the photos and get interested and keep thinking about it and sending ones in. It's fun to see people get inspired."

The Port Aransas Bollard Buddies began when Vondra was in France with her husband, Glenn. She saw an entire street in Avignon, France, decorated with "yarn bomb." Trees, bike racks, fences and road signs were covered in brightly colored yarn, and she immediately thought of Port Aransas.

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When she returned home, she got straight to work.

She began with only 82 bollard buddies, but the collection has grown to more than 300. Every year a couple go missing and a few anonymous ones appear, but the Bollard Buddies Facebook page has an album of more than 300 photos of the various buddies and their adventures.

"There's quite a few really awesome ones this year that people have sent me," Vondra added. "It's great fun to put them up because you don't know what you'll find."

The bollard buddies will be on display from Dec. 28 and taken down in March. Photos and more information about the bollard buddies can be found at www.facebook.com/yarnbombinginporta.

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Ashlee Burns covers trending and breaking news in South Texas. See our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe