GOLLYFEST V11

TORONTO,CANADA

APRIL30TH-MAY 1ST 2004

THEME, Golliwoggs Bicycle Club LOCATION:Ramada Conference Centre Don Valley, Toronto, Canada.

Well, I’ve said it before and I will say it again..you people who have never been to a Gollyfest are really missing out on a great time!!! They are held about every year and a half, so are not so frequent that would tend to make everything stale, but often enough to keep the interest going..
Toronto was the biggest one yet!! People came from England, Australia, some of the 50 States, and of course, from Canada too.. It was a great opportunity to once again meet up with the people we communicate with over the Internet or telephone,and to also see abit of Canada as well…

MY sister and I met up in Buffalo New York State, and drove the 100 or so miles to Toronto..She went to visit relatives while I ‘did’ Gollyfest…and after ward, we had time to visit Niagara Falls for a couple of days, and also to drive around Lake Erie, down into Pennysalvania…A super opportunity to see the East coast..Some of the delegates did a city tour of Toronto, visiting the CNN tower, and other local landmarks…and some took a day tour into Niagara ..plenty to do around that area…

Anyway..Friday dawned bright and early, and those of us selling in the sale room this year, hastened to set up our tables at 8am..There were 19 sellers this year, including some old favorites like Marg Sneddon from Australia and her lovely Gollies…Eric and Christine Horn and his wooden dolls..Maggie Latham and Kay Di Mattei with their Golly creations..Mike and Jan Ross with there collections from previous Gollyfests..Shelia and David Mallin, who are now running the “Just Golly’ Club in England, Terri Kovacs, President of the International Golliwogg Collectors Club here in the US, …was weeding out some of her collection.World of Miniature Bears was represented by Chris ? Ruth Fraser had a table as well…she will be busy all weekend, as the Teddy Bear show she organises is on Sunday at this same hotel!

At registration, we were presented with a bag of goodies, including a lovely Christmas Tree ornament, painted on the INSIDE with a Golly scene, an absolutely wonderful job…(Watch out for those on Ebay!!) A couple of little wooden Gollies..a Golly chocolate..(didn’t last long, I ate him!!).A set of fat Russian dolls with Noddy and his buds on the back of them, and Golly on the front…These are not THE dolls you see everywhere, but were made especially for Gollyfest….and various other trinkets..

We launched right into the days program with a welcome from Jan Ross, and then those who had elected to do a workshop with Maggie Latham left for the next room, to make a small ceramic Golly from a kit Maggie had prepared..whilst the rest of us listened to Jans talk and slide show on how the Golly evolved to be the ROBERTSONS jam logo, and the various premiums that could be bought from them over the years…

Ricky Kopferer From Los Angeles spoke about her Childrens China collection, and club..including some of the early Upton Golly China…

Shelia Mallin also did a slide show and talk about the various Golly Patterns available, (if one looks very hard indeed!!) and the changes to the Golly over the years…

Throughout Gollyfest, we did a ‘show and tell’..Everyone is encouraged to bring pieces they want to find out more about, or there first ever Golly, or anything with a story attached! That in itself is interesting, and we get to see a lot of unusual stuff that people don’t want to sell, (Boo hoo) but we hear about anyway…Jans stories about how she gets the items for the Gollyfest goodie bags would take up a day in themselves…!

Jan (Golly) Draper got her name from a 70s permanent wave gone wrong, which ended up as a stylish Afro, and hence the nickname Golly! She was given a super dress in the 80s, from a rep who had tried to market it to no avail, and had ended up giving it to her. The material had little Gollies all over it! Gol used to wear it occasionally, but has since grown just a little,so it now resides in her closet and is reserrected occasionally for a Gollyfest.

Dot and Helen Gillet once again made the trip from Australia, on there way around the world to England and Ireland…Since this years Gollyfest was held in conjunction with Ruth Frasers Teddy Bear Show at the same location..Helen was also able to satisfy her passion for bears as well…! (although Dot says shes gradually winning her over to the Golly side!)

Marg Sneddon and her husband were on there way BACK to Australia..after visiting Europe..Marg had carted her collection around the world and back!

Charlotte was back and busy helping out all around…from Alabama..and some more regulars included the Gehlbacks, the Newbergs and the Quinlans..all from the US..

I was able to meet and visit with such first time Gollyfest charactors , such as Milly from Philly, a lady I have dealt with quite a lot via telephone, and Annabelle Selb, who I believe was our eldest Gollyfester at 91..Mickki Geertson has a shop in Central California and she was also a ‘first timer‘…as was some of the English contingent,..Dyanne Blacks name looked familiar, and she told me she was a (silent) member of our Golliwog and Friends group!!!

The sale room opened at 2pm to an explosion of buying and oohing and ahhing at all the lovely Gollyana available..Dot was able to find a nice vintage Golly for her ever growing collection and others bought Gollyana, both newly created and vintage ..There was a nice assortment of items, and something for everyone…Mike Ross even had had a special Gollyfest Toronto badge made for the badge collectors! The sale room was only open to Gollyfest delegates this year, due to the problems with paying the Canadian GST taxes..but by the looks of it , everyone did quite well…I certainly did!

Whist the sale was going on, some of the group elected to do another Golly workshop, making a Jack in the Box Golly. With Camie Rudeen as instructor. The projects are usually pretty simple to do… The group are presented with a kit each, and are able to create there own item the way they want… We even had a Dennis The Menace collector make his HIS way!!

Our banquet dinner was held at 6.30 and people sat randomly, on tables of eight, some with old friends and some made new ones!…The table centre pieces, made by Ruth Fraser this year, were won by one person on each table, but everyone else had consolation prizes of chocolate and wooden Gollies…Whilst everyone was discussing how to preserve this chocolate Golly , ( a lovely creation with a maple leaf as a back ground, with a Golly head on it, ) I was thinking of when I could eat it!!! It didn’t take long!!

The ‘Silent’ auction came next..presided over by Camie and William .Our life size ‘Golly’ made his/her usual appearance, and was greatly photographed by all!!! …The auction was another great opportunity to get some Gollyana at great prices…There were Upton books, both original, 60s reprints, and modern..Noddy books, Golliwog dolls of various shapes and sizes, both Artist creations and vintage.ornaments, patterns, toys..almost anything EXCEPT the kitchen sink! Not many items remained unsold at the end, and most people seemed to enjoy the mad scramble to get the last bid in before time was called..!Yolanda Paul was Queen of the Auction, she managed quite a heap of stuff!!!

At the end of a busy day, we all slept VERY well!

All except Jan Ross who was up at 4am getting the rooms ready for the second day of activities!

At Golly fest , there are always competitions in various categories, which everyone can participate in,and entries are judged by the delegates…This year was no exception, and there were quite afew entries, so this was our first port of call for the day..to judge the ‘Most Appealing’ Most Unusual’ etc etc

Entries are also invited for the NEXT Gollyfest themed souvenir doll, Golliwogg at the Seaside, to be held in 2006. They are always a limited edition doll made especially for that particular convention…This year Karen Blair’s tiny jointed Golly was voted in, so she will be making the next convention doll..

There are always two raffles at these events as well. A charity one, with the proceeds this year going to the Toronto Childrens Hospital, and one for the Gollyfest coffers..so tickets were feverishly being sold..and fingers crossed to win some of the excellent prizes available..Annabelle was the Queen of the raffles this year, scooping a heap of prizes, but I also won an Eric Horn miniature, and also a Golly spoon, whilst lots of other people also won prizes..There are so many of them,all donated by Gollyfest and IGCC members, you had to be VERY unlucky NOT to win one…and we raised over $800 for the hospital…

We had brunch at 10 o’clock-ish..The first day banquet, and second day brunch and afternoon tea are all included in the registration price..plus all the little gifts we received throughout make it a very good value for money!

Lots more ‘Show and Tell’ followed, with members proudly displaying their Golly ‘finds’…

Finally, the farewell tea, and thank yous completed the day….and the group split up to go there different ways,,until the next time!!!

SNEEK PEEK

Tentative arrangements are now being made for the Gollyfest 8..to be held in San Diego California in January 2006..The theme is to be ‘The Golliwogg at the Seaside’ You heard it here first!!

SEE YA NEXT TIME! Gypsy.