MIDWINTER DOLL TEDDY AND CRAFT FESTIVAL 2007
The Midwinter Doll Teddy and Craft Festival 2007 settled into its new home very well and was much appreciated by Stall holders, Exhibitors and Visitors. The local residents certainly came along and gave the event their support; apparently it has been 22 years since a Doll or Teddy Show has been held in the area. There was a fine display of the Doll and Teddy makers work and many of the items were in this year theme which was “Alice’s Wonderland”. There were several Alice’s and Mad Hatters busy giving Tea Party’s, with a giant caterpillar, and a giant Bear, Playing cards, Rabbits and many more characters from the wonderful tale of Alice.
We were lucky enough to have the Papakura Miniature Club bring along their miniature Hotel that the club made as a project for their latest Convention, it was truly a wonderful display and extremely popular with all the visitors.
There were over 60 stallholders this year, and it was very nice to see some Australian visitors again, we look forward to seeing them again next year. The Show fitted snugly into the new venue, the only problem was that once again it was cold!!! Unfortunately due to the time of year of course it usually is, and Auckland didn’t disappoint us and turned on a very cold weekend, however the organiser has made moves to correct that for 2008 and we are please to report that there will be heating in the stadium for the 2008 event.
The Midwinter show was once again supported by Janome and we were able to give away a very nice Sewing Machine and an Overlocker this year. We also gave out tickets to the Bella Collectables Auction valued at $150 and as always Jan Mclean was extremely generous in donating our major Raffle prize and the spot prizes given out to children all through the weekend, this has become a very popular part of the show. Marylyn Kirkup kindly made and donated us a wonderful bear who was a white rabbit. Thank you all so much for our raffle and of course the stall holders with all their donations to the basket this year that the basket was so overfull we had to have a cardboard box as well! The money raised from the raffles and silent auction of paintings, which incidentally was a record this year is truly appreciated by the children and families of Child Cancer sufferers.
The children visitors to the show had so much fun, Jan Mclean and her team were doing fancy lollipop style pink and purple hairdos, which the children loved. Some of the not so small children also took advantage of this to many people's amusement.
We were limited in our demonstrations this year, mainly due to not knowing how it would all work at the new venue and a lack of very clever people with something to promote offering their services. There is an up side to demonstrating as the tutor gets to promote their specific product and encourage sales, with lots of free advertising from the intercom announcements. So if you want to be involved next year, put your hand up now as the organiser is already out there getting demonstrators, it only takes a little of your time and we help with your stand while you do it.
So the exciting news is the theme for next year is decided on, so you can have lots of time to get an exhibit ready. Our theme for 2008 is “The Secret Garden”. Wlready plans are underway to make this a very spectacular exhibition. It costs nothing to exhibit, all you need to do is enter the exhibition and bring it along at setup time and pick it up to take home at the end of the show. Entry forms for the exhibition are on the website and also available from Sheila Sullivan P.O.Box 23499 Papatoetoe.
