PORT ANGELES — Dolls, teddy bears and tea sets will set the tables at the 20th annual Promise of Spring Doll Show on Saturday.
The show, which will feature more than 40 vendors, will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St.
Entry to the show, sponsored by Just Dolls of Washington, a North Olympic Peninsula doll club, will be $2. Children 12 and younger will be admitted free of charge.
Admission will include one free door prize ticket — more tickets can be purchased — and drawings are planned every half-hour for prizes ranging from dolls to accessories.
Each attendee who brings a nonperishable food item for donation to area food banks will get a free door prize ticket.
Grand prize
The grand prize will be an American Girl doll, Grace, a 2015 limited-edition doll that is no longer available in stores, with a trousseau of clothes.
Grace comes with an accompanying children’s book, which tells the story of a girl who travels to Paris to help with an uncle’s bakery and returns home to help save her grandfather’s bakery.
Proceeds from the door prize drawings will benefit the 2016 Peninsula Daily News’ “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund campaign.
Dolls, accessories
Vendors from all over the state will offer dolls, doll furniture, doll clothing, tea sets, teddy bears, dollhouse miniatures and accessories.
Antique dolls and bears will be displayed, and some will be available for sale.
Some of the antique dolls at the show may be up to 200 years old, said Dori Beachler, president of Just Dolls.
Beachler said the dolls will include collectible Barbie dolls as well as Jennie dolls — an 8-inch precursor to the Barbie — Madame Alexander dolls, American Girl dolls and books.
A certified doll appraiser will be at the show to appraise collector or antique dolls for a fee, Beachler said.
The appraisals are good for insurance purposes and for setting a price for sale, she said.
There are no doll buyers scheduled to be at the show.
American Girl dolls
Anyone who brings in an American Girl doll or a similar 18-to-25-inch doll can have its hair restyled by two local members of the club, one an expert on doll hair and the other a hairdresser, for a $2 donation to the Peninsula Home Fund.
Last year, Diana Smith, an American Girl hair specialist, said she worked with about 50 dolls’ hair and instructed the owners on doll hair care, which needs special techniques.
Special brushes are used to avoid damaging the spun-plastic hair and styled with ponytails, decorative clips or braids, she said.
Smith said she does not work with antique doll hair, but there are some vendors at the show who can assist doll owners with repairing antique doll wigs.
Lunch and beverages will be available at the show.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
