By By KEVIN SCOTT CUTLER
Lifestyles & Features Editor
Christmas is coming early to Washington this weekend with the annual doll, teddy bear and toy show and sale, hosted by the A-Z Doll Club.
The event will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Washington Red Men’s Lodge, located at 503 East Third Street across from Veterans Park.
The show, a Washington tradition, has been held since the 1980s. Admission is $3 per person, with children under 12 years old admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Proceeds from the show are used for local community projects, including the Beaufort County Humane Society, Brown Library and the Marion L. Shepard Cancer Center, according to doll club treasurer and charter member Anne Scott.
The lodge will resemble Christmas morning after Santa Claus has left his treasures behind. Dealers from throughout North Carolina and Virginia are expected. Among the items for sale will be assorted dolls and toys, along with doll clothing and accessories, furniture, stuffed animals, tea sets and Beanie Babies.
Joining Scott in planning the show are fellow doll club officers Donna Hodges, president; Betty Ross, vice president; and Shirley Woolard, secretary. The women say they are passionate about their collections, pointing out that dolls are one of the most popular hobbies in the United States.
“I consider it a form of art,” said Scott, who added that doll collecting is a tradition in her family. “My mother collected dolls before me, and when she passed away my daughter and I got interested. Now my granddaughter collects dolls, too.”
Scott said she still has a doll depicting 1930s ice skater Sonja Henie from her childhood as well as a china doll dating back to the Civil War from her mother’s collection.
Hodges said she probably has close to 500 dolls in her collection.
“I started collecting about 27 years ago,” she said. “My favorites are Barbies, Madame Alexander and rag dolls like Raggedy Ann and Andy.”
Fellow doll club officer Shirley Woolard estimated that her collection numbers between 300 and 400 pieces.
“Because of my name, I really enjoy Shirley Temple dolls. I have a picture from my childhood of me with curls in my hair,” she said. “And I collect dolls named after my three children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.”
Ross said she became interested in doll collecting 20 years ago after her daughter joined the A-Z Doll Club.
“I look for dolls who look like my grandchildren, with brown eyes and that sort of thing,” she said. “I also collect presidential dolls, and I have one ordered of Michelle Obama.”
During the show, the club will conduct a doll raffle; for a $1 donation, some lucky ticket holder will win a signed and numbered doll, “Peggy,” that is part of a collection produced by entertainer and doll enthusiast Marie Osmond. You do not have to be present at the time of the drawing to win, according to Scott.
Other doll enthusiasts are invited to join the A-Z Doll Club, which meets the fourth Monday of each month for a “Dutch treat” luncheon at the Golden Corral Family Steak House in Washington. For more information, call 252-946-3046.