GOLLY FEST 2001
GollyFest5,2001, was held from 4th/5th AUGUST 2001 at the Double Tree hotel
in Burlingame California.....
Well its all over now until the next time..and I hope you are all suitably jealous
at not attending such a neat event as Gollyfest V San Franciso!
Approx 30 0f us arrived for the earlybird dinner on Friday night..so began to make friends and exchange Golly stories immediately..amazing how 'at home' one can feel with a group of like minded individuals!!
There were afew people over from Britain, David and Shirley Mallin had come over especially for Gollyfest..and Vanessa Littleboy was spending some extra time, and using it as a vacation as well, which is a great idea I think, if you're coming that far..There were three Aussies in attendance..Dot and Helen Gillet had come especially for the occasion, and Shelia Lawn was making a vacation out of it....and a couple from Canada, Ruth Fraser and Barbara Richardson from the Toronto area...everyone else came from various parts of the US
The majority were Californias, and us "Brit Borns' also held the majority out of everyone from everywhere...
Saturday dawned bright and early..7am, for us people in the sale room, it was time to 'set up'..as we had a full day of it to come....
So there we were...setting up our booths ready for the sale later in the afternoon...The others really weren't allowed to come in, but a couple of people smuggled in and were seen discreetly putting things aside until the regular time...!!! Those Aussies!!!!!!
Michele Douglas and I were on registration...at 9am, so I got to meet everyone then, and hand out the goodie bags...
Wow..did they do us proud with those....we had a neat cable car christmas ornament with a Golly hanging off the side of it...a lucite desk clock with Gollyfest V printed on it...a small Golly from World of Miniatures...a plastic bendy Golly, A Golly note book, Gollies on every page..some post cards, with Gollies on of course! We also had some California 'jellie bellies' to eat, some lovely soap and a Golly facecloth,all contained in a large canvas bag with a Golly overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge on the side....
This bag of goodies was free with registration...
Frome there, we went into our first slide show presentation by Terri Kovacs..of her Gollies, and spent an entertaining hour or so listening to Terri relate where they had come from, and what they were...(Terri is now Editor of the IGCC newletter that the club puts out four times a year...)
The next slide show presentation was Cathie Kiefers..who is from Bedford , England originally, but came over as a GI bride just after the war..Shes been collecting Gollies for 30+ years, and had THREE carrosels of slides...Patti Blair did the explaining as Cathie is shy!!!!!!
Gosh, I knew she had alot of stuff cos shes always buying from me, but I actually don't know how she ever gets in her house....especially as she has everything displayed..shes not one for having boxes of stuff packed away...
We had a lunch break then, and then around 1.45 all headed to the 'sale room' where we had previously set up...Richard Brown (those of you will know Brown/Hamel from Ebay)and I did mostly older stuff, and Maggie Maher and Paul Latham, (ex pats from Delaware) had some old and new, as did Beverley Pollen and MaryAnn Nieminim from Washington State...Michele, Charlotte from Florida,Vanessa from England, Patti Blair from Sacramento,Ruth Fraser from Canada,Kay DeMattai and Geri Olsen from Marin County California, all showed their own creations..whilst Ted Ripley (Washington State)had items from his shop in Port Angeles and Jan Ross (California) had tables of mixed goodies belonging to several people who weren't able to come...
Amazingly enough, we all did pretty well..at least the people I spoke to...I took $850 much to my amazement..because in all, there were only about 44 people at this convention, and 10 of us were selling!!!
Whilst we in the sale room were clearing up, they had a 'show and tell' in the other room, where people had bought odd ball things to either find out about, or to tell about..Thats always interesting and turns up some unusual bits and pieces...
For dinner that evening we had a banquet...and the food was delicious...Meat fish or Veggie...I had a very tasty portobello mushroom dish...mmmm..Again we sat on different tables to last night, so were able to chat to different people each time..Jan had devised a 'chat up' scavenger sheet, where we were to find out certain items..like who is a pig farmer, or who farms peanuts, or who has a corgi..so that certainly helped to break the ice if anyone was a little shy, when someone came up to you and asked casually if you imported carnivorous plants!!!! (That was Mike Ross by the way!!!)
It was interesting for me, cos I had dealt with many of the people over the years on my website, and knew them through emails, so its always nice to put a face to a name....
After dinner we headed into the auction room, where 60+ items had been assembled for auctioning..John Paul Port did the honours there, (his Mum is apparently the Mother of Teddy Bear Artists everywhere, or so I've heard!!! she started it all off way back when!!!)..and did a wonderful job in selling all but two or three items...items as diverse as a Robertson keyring, an Upton postcard, to a Karl Gibbons Golly were offered for sale...Prices varied considerably..some were real bargains, others made more than would have been expected..such is the way of the auctions...
So at about 11.30..after a full day of activities...we finally went to bed...
Sunday morning bright and early...peole delivered their competition items to be judged by the group...There were several catagories...a most appealing, a diorama, a postcard selection, most unusual...All were wonderfully and expertly made..oh for some talent..I hate sewing so must admire those who make such a wonderful job of there craft!!!
There was some great stuff there..and some very talented people about....Best of Show was won by Romy Roeder in Australia..for a magnificent airship suspended from joist and filled with a golly and peg dolls, as inspired by Uptons Airship book...She also won the table centre pieces for next year...which will be the Polar Golly..(again inspired by Uptons Polar Golly book)...
We had 'brunch' after that...again a wonderful buffett of eggs, salads, cakes and champagne mimosas!!!The Doubletree certainly fed us extremely well, and accomodation was very handy to the Airport..with a shuttle, so made it quite useful for those arriving via air....
After brunch...We were actually supposed to have had the gentleman who has written the By Golly book we recently discussed here, but unfortunately, he had a last minute emergency and had to cancel out....so Jan stepped in to the breach with a 'Golly Sells' presentation slide show, on all the different types of advertising that Golly has been involved in over the years...and a great job she did of it too!!!
After another short break, we reassembled for Shelia Mallins presentation on restoring old Gollies...Shelia makes Gollies as well as restoration..and can be found at many of the Brit fairs around the South east of England...I picked up afew tips here myself, as I often have to titvate mine up too!!!
Finally then we had our goodbye afternoon tea, complete with cucumber sarnies, ( as well as salmon and ham!!) and fruit tarts, eclairs and cream scones...)and the raffles were pulled..We had two raffles going, one where all the sellers had donated something, and the proceeds went to the Gollyfest coffers for next years, and a charity raffle, with items donated from people present and away, and the proceeds going to the Hospice that took care of Terris husband..We raised $620 for the Hospice..not bad for just 40 + people...
Amazingly I actually won a tin paint box ( I NEVER win things like that...)..that Maggie Maher had donated, and had bought last week from our Bill Boyd on Ebay..so things get around in the Golly world don't they!!!
George Ann Johnson, first time at Gollyfest, from California, won about five things...and lots of others had multiples too...(there were ALOT of prizes)..
So at about 4pm, the band dispersed, we said out goodbyes, and look forward to next year..where perhaps YOU will be part of the celebrations...
Certainly was a fun time for all, and I would recommend you all to make an effort to attend an event in the future...I will certainly be there!!
For a more colorful view with pictures etc....see Gypsy's website.<Click Here>
3 May, 2003