Doll collectors come alive at luncheon

Then the perfect outfit occurred to her: the figure-hugging red sweater and white mini-skirt of the University of Arkansas cheerleader.

"Because I've always wanted to be one," she said.

Giggey will be modeling her outfit in the Parade of Paper Dolls at the club's Doll Luncheon on Sept. 8 at the Best Western Convention Center. This year's theme: "A Change of A Dress," with the focus on paper dolls.

Usually a sell-out, the Doll Luncheon is more than lunch out and a program. People start lining up before the 9:30 registration, Giggey said, to get in and choose their table, then view the displays and demonstrations. They can also vote for their favorite entries in different competitions. This year, the categories include vintage paper doll, and doll and paper doll combination (think Shirley Temple).

"Some people just come to see the Hoffman Challenge," Giggey said.

The Hoffman Challenge is a traveling collection of handmade dolls that people make from Hoffman fabric and enter in an annual competition. Brenda Magee, who is in charge of this year's display, said the collection will cover two tables. Also on display will be two-dimensional dolls of paper and wood and their wardrobes.

"I have a Miss Eureka Springs paper doll," Giggey said.

In the "Parade of Live Paper Dolls," the models will walk to the Mills Brothers' hit, "Paper Doll," each holding a two-dimensional dress with white tabs. Giggey said her cheerleader outfit was made by an artist friend out of three pieces of card stock.

"I thought of pompoms, but I have to carry the outfit," she said.

Giggey and Carolyn Williams gave members a preview of their outfits at the August meeting of the club, and presented ideas for creating an outfit and paper doll hat, the kind with a slit that slides over the doll's head. Collectors come from three states to attend meetings -- Susan Allen drives two hours from Grove, Oklahoma, and Sue Kinkade travels two and half hours from Mansfield, Missouri. Held on the second Wednesday of the month, the meetings start at 10 a.m. , with lunch and an afternoon program. The August meeting was the club's annual birthday party, where they celebrate everyone's birthday member got a handmade cloisonné-type doll pin made by Phyllis Martin.

"You have to wear a doll pin to the meeting or you get fined a dollar," said Brenda Magee, who joined the doll club six years ago when she moved back to town.

The club is celebrating its 36th birthday, but Magee has ties that go further back. Magee was 23 years old when she first moved to Eureka Springs in 1973 and joined the Eureka Springs Doll Club. She brought the 1973 yearbook of the club, founded in 1970, to last week's meeting, along with some Ozark dolls made by Zoe Harp, club president. Harp's sister, Edna Bergdorf, was also a member and wrote the words of the club song, "Hello, Dolly," to the Broadway tune. Harp made two enormous dolls that sat outside the grocery store she and her husband owned on Main Street.

"It was the type of store where you take your list in and she gets the items you want," Magee said.

The Northwest Arkansas Heritage Doll Club is nationally known for the souvenir dolls it makes for luncheon attendees. Last year, they made 120 porcelain dolls for each attendee under the direction of Jaki Lang, one of the club's porcelain artists. The dolls were dressed in hand-sewn Christmas caroler outfits. The club donated two caroler dolls to the United Federation of Doll Club to raffle at the national convention. At last Wednesday's club meeting, Williams read a thank-you note from the winner, Pansy Morrow of Searcy, Ark., who included a check for the Sept. 8 luncheon.

"She's the first one to buy a ticket," Williams said.

The luncheon will features paper dolls designed by Grace Drayton, a turn-of-the century illustrator who created the "Dolly Dimples" and "Pussycat Princess" comics and the popular paper doll of the period, Dolly Dingle, for a woman's magazine. Last year, the luncheon theme was Raggedy Ann and Andy, with members dressing as Raggedy Anns.

Kathy McGuire-Bouwman, head of the club's project to support Grandma's House, a safe home for abused children, will have refurbished Cabbage Patch dolls and handmade outfits for sale. McGuire-Bouwman said the NW Arkansas Heritage Doll Club is one of the most vibrant clubs in the area.

"They're not just collectors, they're creators," she said of the members, "and we play with our dolls."

The Northwest Arkansas Heritage Doll Club Luncheon is Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, 207 W. Van Buren (Highway 62), Eureka Springs. Tickets are $50 and include souvenir doll. For reservations, call Carolyn Williams, 479-253-7199 by August 24.