SRG 2004 Continued
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Saturday we were up bright and early
for an autograph signing with Barbara Lund, daughter of Neilan Lund
master architect of the Heritage Village Collection. Barbara works on
designing Dickens' Village, New England Village, Alpine Village, and
North Pole and attended the Gathering to sign some of her designs for
enthusiastic collectors. She is pictured below with Ms Lit Town, Judith
Price (left) who retired earlier this year.
The first seminar of
the day: Lighted buildings from concept to production, was presented by
Bill Shadid, Department 56 Director of Marketing for Villages, and
Melinda Seegers, Department 56 Consumer Representative. Department 56
showed us how they start with an idea for a new house and go through all
of the steps until it gets to their warehouse. From drawings to paper mock-ups to wax models to molds and
finally the finished product.
Fascinating!
Next seminar The Best
of Ms Lit Town with Judith Price. Her presentation was definitely a
highlight of the show. Judith recently retired from Department 56 after 15 years with the
company and she reminisced about her 15 years working at Department 56.
She was the spokesperson for Dept. 56 and the one person that most
collectors would know and recognize from the company. Her hard work has
helped clubs, shows, and the NCC immensely over the years. She was
extremely funny and it was obvious that she loved her job and that
collectors love her! She showed a video called The Building of The
Building of a Village Tradition which consisted of outtakes from the
video that was just hilarious! I believe she had one scene that took
roughly 26 takes! We wish her the best in her retirement!
The Marketplace
where anything from villages to miniatures were available for purchase.
We each painted our
own snowman event piece at the snowman paint and take.
Next Tim Stephenson's
Trick or Treat Halloween demo. Tim showed us how to spook up our
Halloween displays. Basically any where you would put a person, put a
skeleton! He put cotton on the skeletons below to create The Grateful
Dead! Tim and his wife Patty are the owners of Pretty Petals where you
can purchase the miniatures below.
The Holiday Home Room
was a special display sponsored by Parsons of Cumming, GA. Their
displays also offered collectors ideas to use in their own displays.
They also provided hospitality and had numerous give a-ways!
Saturday evening we
celebrated the Dickens' Village 20th Anniversary with refreshments and
Dickens era games that included
Jackstraws (pick-up-sticks),
Tiddly
Winks, Hoops and Sticks,
Graces,
Whirly-Cobs, Hundreds (marbles), a
potato race, and a
Dickens "A Christmas Carol" quiz. We were awarded
points depending on how well we did at the games that we then traded in
for raffle tickets. My mom won the St. Patrick's Village Express and an
event pin from the NCC 10th Anniversary Alaskan Cruise.
The number and quality of door prizes, raffle prizes, and auction items all weekend was unbelievable!
Saturday concluded
with Saturday Night LIVE II which included a social hour and cash bar,
charity auction with auctioneer Brooks Coleman Jr. who was a hoot and is
a Georgia State Representative, and a magic show with The Magic Man who
levitated a woman from the audience and performed a Houdini-like escape
from a straight jacket.
The Gathering came to
a close Sunday morning with the Collector's Breakfast and charity
raffle. Prizes included a holiday trip to Department 56 headquarters and
numerous signed limited edition pieces. All in all it was an incredible
experience! Thanks again to the Southern 56ers and everyone involved
in organizing such an awesome event!
Sunday afternoon and
Monday we toured some of Atlanta's attractions including The Margaret
Mitchell House, The Underground, The World of Coca Cola, and CNN.
