PANAMA CITY — One woman has supported local charities for 20 years now with her annual doll show.
Marie Howard is the brains behind the North Florida Doll Show and Sale. As the sole promoter, she does all the work, from organizing vendors to distributing fliers.
“It’s my baby, but friends and family help a lot,” Howard said.
Howard said she has been collecting dolls for about 50 years and has a 5,000 now. She said she likes “anything from the 1950s,” especially vintage hard plastic dolls. Those were the kinds of dolls she had as a child.
“Most people that collect dolls, they want what they had in their childhood,” Howard said.
Some 15 vendors were on hand at Saturday’s show at the Holiday Inn Select, selling all kinds of dolls, from a tall French doll dating to the 1880s to Star Wars figurines still in their packaging. Doll accessories also were available, along with books on doll collecting and even some vintage jewelry.
“Dolls are interesting. They’re just something unique” vendor Peggy Miceli said.
Miceli was selling several Franklin Mint Fabergé bridal dolls from her collection. She is scheduled for a lung transplant and said it was time to downsize.
“I just never wanted to get rid of the ones I have, but I decided, you know, there comes a time when you have to,” she said.
Proceeds from the show’s $3 admission, raffle ticket sales and other fees support a different cause each year. This year the money will go to Rutherford High School’s baseball program.
Howard said she expected to donate $500 to the program. Rutherford baseball players were selling the raffle tickets at the show.
Doll appraiser Cynthia Orgeron was offering her services for free.
Visitors could donate $5 to Rutherford’s baseball team and find out their dolls’ worth, get tips on caring for them and learn about insurance values. Orgeron said that when considering a doll’s worth, she looks at its age, rarity, condition and if it has the original clothes.
“All dolls have value. They are worth saving, and especially if the family took time to save them it makes it special. There are sentimental reasons behind it, and that you can’t really put a price on,” she said.
