Convention in Strawberryland

I had a very fun experience over the weekend. I spent Friday night and all day Saturday in Cleveland at the 4th annual Strawberry Shortcake convention. I wanted to go last year but Cinderella was that same weekend. And since I was anticipating returning to Vegas this year but didn't, I didn't sign up for this year's convention until Monday. I was able to beat the registration deadline by a few hours, and even managed to get the discounted hotel room rate (one of only 2 rooms left the entire weekend!). I was trying to decide whether or not I could go at the last minute then decided I'd better since there won't be one next year. I might not get another chance!

Friday was a terribly hectic day at work. Doctor had surgery in the morning was 2 hours late getting to the office. I got to call as many people as possible to try to reschedule them, and some are a little less nice about it than others. We didn't leave the office until 4:15 or so, and I'd wanted to leave by 4 so I could arrive at the convention around 6 for the buy-sell-trade forum that evening. But we didn't leave until 5:30-ish and got there around 7:30. (If I'd been driving alone, I'd have been there by 6:45!) 

At the hotel, I said good-bye to Kirbs since she rode up there with us, then checked into my room and took my buy-sell-trade fodder down to the event room. I wasn't quite sure where the room was, but then I saw someone wearing SSC scrubs so I just followed her to it. It was around 8, but there were still some people there. Some of the board members recognized me right away, but of course I had to play a guessing game while trying to put the name to the face. (I suck at this game!) 

There were a lot of nice things at that forum. I bought a couple car fresheners (one of Raspberry Tart and one of Blueberry Muffin). At that point, I realized I'd forgotten to pack pajamas so I tried to find a T-shirt to sleep in, but the only one was from the very first convention and it was a size 2XL, so I passed. I'd only brought $20 with me and had just spent $7 so I wasn't real excited about spending another $10 on a shirt I would probably only wear to bed once. 

Anyway, after the forum ended at 9, the Town Square people (minus 2 or 3 who decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe) decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant. I hadn't eaten anything but 2 rice cakes all day, so I was game for that! My eyes are always bigger than my stomach, though. I ordered an appetizer of potato skins and chicken parm for dinner, which also came with a salad. I couldn't even finish the potato skins, so I had no room left for the chicken parm when it came! I had to pack the entire thing up in a box and hope it would keep in the hotel room until the next night. 

I went back to my room around 11 (after momentarily forgetting which floor it was on and trying to figure out why my key wasn't working). I wanted to catch "Meerkat Manor" on Animal Planet before going to sleep, but I couldn't even stay awake long enough to do that. Probably a good thing since I wanted to wake up at 6:33 the next morning. (Yes, 6:33. It's my birth time and I'd set 3 different alarms for that!) Mom even called me to make sure I was up. I waited in bed for a while before actually getting up and getting ready. 

Registration started at 8:00 and went to 8:45, and the actual convention activities started at 9:00. I was there a little after 8:30, registered, did a little shopping by the vendor booths, and got some coffee and pastries from the continental breakfast that was provided. The shopping part was very exciting, though. There were people from the Earth Fair ToyMall who had all kinds of prototypes from Kenner and original artwork designs! They also had every single one of the deluxe minis for sale...including Peach Blush! I took a moment to bow before this holy relic and admire how glorious she looked in person. (We're talking the Holy Grail of SSC collecting here!) The price tag on her was $1,995, just slightly less than average. When I went back there a few short hours later during our coffee break, she was already sold!! Can you believe that?! (As it turned out, Christina, the convention coordinator's husband bought it for their tenth anniversary.) 

Well, the festivities kicked off with a speaker named Dave who worked for Kenner for 30-some years, starting in the early 80's when SSC's popularity was nearing its height. He talked about their brainstorming process for dreaming up the different characters and different lines of dolls, while making modifications along the way. He asked us to recount some of our favorite SSC memories from childhood. I described going to the shoe store at age 2 and picking out a pair of blue shoes with SSC on them. I didn't know why I liked her and I didn't really care why, I just knew I did and to this day, I still have those little shoes! Other people talked about how excited they were getting her for Christmas. Some even said they didn't like her at all as a child and only developed a fondness for her after having children of their own. 

There were people from all walks of life there: professional toy dealers, hobby collectors, and average enthusiasts. Besides Dave, there was another Kenner employee there named Judy. She showed us sample products of the things coming out this fall. We also previewed the new DVD not yet released, watched the trailer for the SSC movie due out in early 2007, and even had a bit of a feedback forum with them about some of the changes being discussed to the line. They seemed surprised to learn that the pets were a big part of SSC to us, and that they needed to do more with the pets. The general consensus was that, unlike Barbie and Bratz dolls, Strawberry was the kind of doll that just let little girls be little girls. She represented an ideal, an innocence yet to be tainted by modern-day society, and good general values we wish our own children to have. 

We got a mid-morning break for shopping and coffee, and lunch was provided by the hotel. There was also custom doll judging and raffle prizes. Our convention fee included one raffle ticket, but we could buy more from a guy dressed as the Purple Pie Man. I bought several more and stuck them in the drawing bags for the stuff I wanted. We also got a group photo with someone in a SSC costume (who appeared to have trouble maneuvering around in it). After lunch, I took a minute to get my stuff together and check out of the room, since I had to be out of there by 2 unless I wanted charged for another half day. I put my stuff behind "Mental" Jen's vendor booth for the rest of the day (including my leftover chicken parm) and used the rest of the time to make some trades and sales. 

The afternoon was the most exciting part. The original SSC artist was supposed to be there to speak, but her mother was ill so she wasn't able to make it, as it turned out. But, she'd prepared a DVD interview, which we watched. Even if she wasn't there in person, it was so captivating to hear her talk about how she came up with the character as a springtime greeting card concept to fill the gap between major card-giving holidays. We found out most characters were based on people she knew (the Purple Pie Man and Sour Grapes were based her former bosses!). If she had actually been there, I would've had her sign my vintage thank you cards. How neat would that have been!! 

After that was a presentation by Adeena on collecting International dolls. This was quite an in depth presentation. There was so much information, I don't think I could remember it all right now! I took pictures of the dolls from her collection, mainly the ones that had caught my eye during her presentation. I believe after that we had a chance to do some last-minute shopping and partake of some Strawberry Shortcake dessert (naturally!) before Jaye and Christina's thank yous/closing statements. Then, the raffle! 

The items on the table ranged from SSC fabrics to some MOC minis, to brand new toys not yet released, to original or limited edition artwork. There were even some Danbury Mint dolls provided by Danbury themselves! The items I especially wanted were a SSC beanbag chair, a vintage style twin-bell alarm clock, an original drawing of Plum Puddin (framed in a purple mat, and drawn by another TownSquare regular), a large SSC scrapbook, and 3 new story books in foreign languages (one in Spanish, one in French, and one in Dutch). They started with the lower-end items first. I don't know why, but I had a feeling I would win at least one thing. Well, I was right: I won the alarm clock! I even used it this morning, but to no avail. Haha! Nearly everyone from TS won something. JenDale won some handmade children's outfits, Athena won a couple things (I'm trying to remember which ones!), Toni got the Blueberry Muffin doll from Danbury Mint, Rebecca got the original Plum Puddin' art. Adeena, Ronnie, Evie, and Dusty all won stuff, too! (If I'm leaving anyone out, let me know.) I was disappointed I didn't win the 3 foreign language books, even if the one in French was the only one I really wanted. So I made a trade with the girl who won them. I traded her my Butter Cookie doll for the one in French. In honesty, she probably got the higher end of the deal, but that little book was worth it to me! Now I can read all about Charlotte aux Fraises a la Plage! 

The convention was over right at 5 and Mom and Dad (plus Kirby and Kisses) were scheduled to pick me up right then. Dad came in to find me and help carry my stuff out to the car. It was a lot of stuff, so JenDale helped, too. She and Toni both got to meet Kirby! I was worried about how Kirby would react to these new people, but she was a perfect angel! She wagged her tail and gave kisses to them both! I think she was just too happy to see me to care about strangers in her personal aura. 

Before we left, I took her to the grassy area to go potty, and she somehow got bad stuff smeared on the backs of her legs! I didn't have anything to clean it up with, other than a napkin. So I did what I could then made her sit on a newspaper the rest of the way home. (It made the car smell something awful! Not exactly a pleasant way to ride home in a cramped sedan). 

It was such a fun weekend! It was especially nice getting to meet so many people from the board, all of whom share a common interest. I got lots of pictures and memories to last a lifetime. I hope there will be another convention in 2008, or 2007 if, by some wild twist of fate, Christina decides to have one after all. She did such a great job putting it all together! She did it out of the goodness of her heart, too. It's all for the love of the dolls! 

The Saturday after next (the 29th) Kirby has a playdate in Michigan with other pappies. We're going to some people's house to get together with other pap owners and let our doggies socialize. I'm really looking forward to her being able to meet other paps. There's also going to be paddle boating on the lake, cooking out, and other fun games. Then, that night, I have to come back to go to Nicki's birthday/law school graduation party. (I missed her actual graduation party while at the Cinderella state finals, so this is a continuation of it.) She had her last bar class yesterday and leaves Tuesday for the actual exam. I was swimming at Tom and KoAnn's house yesterday and we were discussing the different bars for the different states. Since Ni's moving to Dayton, she plans to take the Kentucky bar exam as well the the Ohio one. So we were joking about the types of questions on KY's bar (e.g. "If Jim Bob's wife/sister stole that there neighbor's tractor trailer, how many warm beers would she have to drink as punishment?") Seriously, good luck with that, Neeners! Having a preacher and a lawyer in the family should make a nice balance between good and evil. Haha! Just kiddin', of course!