Southern Regional Gathering 2004
Atlanta, Georgia June 18-20, 2004
Christmas In Hotlanta!
What an incredible experience! Glenn and Debbie Baker and all of the
Southern 56ers did an astounding job organizing this event and providing
an enjoyable time for all!
The weekend was
packed with activities! There was something for everyone! Display seminars, make
and takes, prizes, Department 56 seminars and celebration of the 20th
anniversary of Dickens' Village, artist signing, display fair, prizes, display
contest, market place, bingo, room hop, prizes, charity raffle, auction,
magic show, and more prizes! The number of door prizes, raffle prizes,
and auction items was unbelievable!
Between the charity
raffle and auction $20,000 was raised for The Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation/Camp Kudzu and The American Cancer Society/Breast Cancer
Research Foundation. The very limited Dickens' Village Belle's House (so
far the only ones available were 250 that were randomly given to
Celebrations subscribers) sold at auction for $875! Department 56 also offered two "Home For The
Holidays Express" Gift Sets with limited edition Caboose numbers one and
two. Number one sold at auction for over $800 and number two was given away
at the charity raffle.
See Southern Regional Gathering 2004 for more information.
Click on an image to view the larger image. Use your browser's back button to return to this page.
The Renaissance
Concourse Hotel was beautiful. Although located across the street from
Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, the hotel structure is constructed with a
sophisticated acoustical design that minimizes airport noise. The
airplane photo below was taken from the bar. The guest rooms opened onto
a beautiful 11-story interior atrium. Welcome to the SRG!
The Friday morning
Department 56 Showroom Tour offered us a sneak peek at the new products.
The Dept. 56 Showroom is located at the Atlanta Gift Mart which is part
of the Americas Mart where retail dealers place orders for their store.
The Mart has two large shows one in January and another in July.
Department 56 Dealers view and order new and old products in January and
mid-year releases in July. The Mart is not open to consumers so our
visit was a special treat! And we were treated with wonderful
hospitality, door prizes, and a free gift!
The Gathering officially kicked off Friday at 2:00 pm with
the Welcome Seminar and more door prizes! My sister won a Tote Bag from
the 2003 Mid Atlantic Village Gathering filled with all kinds of goodies
such as the 2003 event pin, 2003 event piece, MAVG logo polo shirt, and
ornaments. Then we were off to our first Seminar: Village Display 101 by
Leigh Gieringer. Author of the Village
Display Tip books and Display Tips
videos, Leigh showed us how to create a display starting from
scratch. Note that she uses sticks to hold her Styrofoam together rather
than glue.
The Display Fair
offered various display tips and techniques for improving your displays.
Next seminar "Make it
Easy" by Pat and John Ehrenreich. Pat and John demonstrated basic
display and the easy foam carving techniques they used to make the Coca
Cola mountain vignette for the gathering. This beautiful display was
later auctioned. Notice the Department 56 trees below. Pat dotted on
different colors of glitter glue to get Christmas bulbs on her trees.
She then sprayed them with Spray Net and while they were still wet
sprinkled glitter on them so that they would sparkle.
The Coca Cola Christmas
tree in the hospitality room where at any time we were able to take a
break and enjoy some great homemade goodies, hot and cold drinks, and conversation.
Note the Krinkle atop the tree.
Some of the display
contest entries. We voted for our favorite and the winners were
announced at Saturday Night LIVE II. The display contest offered
collectors ideas to use in their own displays.
Friday evening ended with BINGO,
where numerous prizes were given away to the lucky winners, and the Room
Hop which went on until past midnight. There were some great buys to be
had at the Room Hop.
