An eagle, ice cream cone, little cars and trucks, Popsicles, jalapeño peppers.
Even Katrina, from Day of the Dead in Mexican culture.
Liliana Lara of Lara Pinatas in Barrie can make one for you, and many others.
This weekend is her first Carnival Barrie after a dozen years making pinatas.
“For one of my daughters’ birthdays, she wanted a Little Princess so I started making something for her,” said Lara. “It looked like a princess, but it wasn’t as nice as the ones I make now. So after that people started asking me if I could make this type of pinata.
“I just got more creative too, to make some other shapes, some other characters. And that’s how I become more artistic.”
Lara said she makes mostly custom orders, depending on what’s wanted for birthday parties and other celebrations.
“Everything is paper, artistic pieces are ‘art in cardboard’,” she said. “I never use staples or wires or anything to hold it, it’s all shape it and dry, shape it and dry, to keep it hard.”
Lara says little girls like unicorns best, the boys like little trucks.
And they’re so good filling them with candy (which Lara doesn’t supply), hanging them up and whacking her pinatas with a stick isn’t always desired. “Some of them, they want to keep them , they don’t want to break them,” she explained. “Kids six or seven years old, when they see a piñata, they get really excited. That’s priceless.”
For more on Lara Pinatas, handmade art by Liliana Lara, click here.
Carnival Barrie, the Latin Festival, runs until 10 p.m. Sunday at Will Dwyer Park along Lakeshore Dive in Barrie.
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