The fifth annual Dolls! Dolls! Dolls! Tea Party and Awards Ceremony was held as part of Winter Carnival at the East Bonner County Library on Saturday January 14.

More than 50 people crowded into the Rude Girls Room, where the friends of the library served tea and goodies. There were plenty of beautiful dresses and hats, familiar faces, new friends just moved to town, tea cups, and dolls in attendance. The top ten prize winners read their essays out loud. Highlights included a story in Spanish and one about a puppet from India. When Karen Bowers arrived after the readings were over, Kelly Curtis and a friend volunteered to give her a private reading.

An overwhelming 24 stories and poems were received, setting an all-time record. Carol Clary from Spokane sent along "My Dollies' Prayer" to open the party, and hopes to attend next year. All entries receive a doll prize donated by Marjorie Gerth and local and national businesses, including Girls Explore!, Marie Osmond dolls, Tonner Doll Company, Sandpoint Super Drug, Wal-Mart, Friends of Panhandle Animal Shelter Thrift Store, Cat Sanctuary Seconds and more. Seventeen prizes were awarded on Saturday; the remaining seven prizes will be awarded as soon as possible. Please check the library website or information desk for availability.

Special thanks to Parker-Kai McNamara, Jim Muskrat (Foster's Crossing) and Karen Bowers for showing their dolls this year. Kudos to Sydne Van Horne and Friends of the Library Judith Clarke (President), Velta Ashbrook, Sue McNutt, Sue Gillespie, and especially Gretchen Ward (who drove a hobbling Nancy Gerth around to gather prizes.)

The Tea Party has been so much of a local success that volunteers are needed to show their dolls and to help organize the party next year. We also need prize donations and help from scrapbookers to organize a file full of pictures, essays, newspaper articles and more from the first five years. Please contact Sydne Van Horne at 263-6930 ext. 243 or Nancy Gerth at 946-4140.

Tea Party/Essay Contest History

The dolly tea party and essay contest are the brainchild of Marge Gerth and her daughter, Dr. Nancy Gerth. 

Marge Gerth has collected dolls for over 75 years, a few at a time. She acquired her first doll, a Lenci, on a shopping trip to Wannamaker's Department Store in Philadelphia with her Aunt Marge, after whom she was named. The collection comprises more than 500 dolls from dozens of countries. They are made of cloth, porcelain, wood, stone, brass, felt, composition, shells, feathers, cornhusks, leather, cardboard, apples, paper, plastic, rubber, ivory, fur and nuts.

"It was something I shared with my mother and my daughters," says Marge. She even made a few dolls herself, and sewed clothes for others. There are characters from books, like "Little Women", and some from real life, like Prince Charles.

Marge has two rules for her collection. Each doll must be made and dressed in the country it represents. And everyone has always been allowed to hold and play with them. After all, that's what dolls are for.

Some of the companies who donated dolls are listed below:

Girls Explore   Tonner Doll Company  Sandpoint Super Drug