Modern Doll Collectors Convention has been a popular event for doll collectors for many years. As times changed, the dolls at the event have also changed. Now many BJDs are seen and sold at the convention, and it is attended by many BJD artists. This year, MDCC is being held September 20th to the 23rd at the DoubleTree by Hilton Boston North Shore, Danvers Massachusetts. Registration is now open.
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Q: Can you give me a little background on your convention? When did it start? How it has grown?
A: Here is a bit on our history. Thirty-eight years ago, we started as an off-shoot of a Ginny doll club with Jeanne Niswonger in Florida. Cathy Clark came in to help Jeanne and then took over as president and was the driving force for expanding and we became the Modern Doll Club in 1988. In 2000 Earl Meisinger became president followed by Ruth Leif and then Patsy Moyer in 2006.
We have tried to follow the current market trends with what is wanted by our attendees and all of us love the BJDs. Our goals are to offer current BJDs to our attendees and make it a party for all to have a fun experience. We enjoy the sharing of dolls and information with a bit of humor thrown in for good measure.
Our board currently comprises five officers assisted by committee chairs. The officers are Patsy Moyer – President; Billie Stevens -Vice-president and Convention Coordinator; Dodie Vaughn – Treasurer; Karen Schoewe – Secretary/Registrar and Shirley Dyer – Hotel/Convention Liaison. All of these remarkable ladies who comprise our board have had years of working together, with experience in Modern Doll, UFDC, MADC, and other doll related organizations. Chairpersons include Jill Sanders – Sales Room, Mary Goodreau – Audiovisual, Jackie Obinski – Creative Design, Jean and Ron Stanton – Helpers, and Charles Brown – Webmaster.
The club expanded from Vogue’s Ginny and featured other modern dolls including Betsy McCall, Patsy, Raggedy Ann, Barbie, Shirley Temple, Robin Woods and Mary Hoyer. In 2000 Ashton Drake’s Gene brought fashion dolls followed by Tonner’s Tyler and Alexander Doll Company’s Alex.
We started a Fashion Doll Runway during this period and auctioned off costumed dolls for the favorite charity chosen by our souvenir doll artist. In 2017 we are having a “Little Darling Fashion Gala” featuring Diana Effner’s Little Darling dolls costumed by designers and they will be auctioned off with 100% of monies raised going to charity. Our souvenir doll artist for 2017, Nikki Britt, chose the charity, Manna Worldwide, which benefits children. Attending designers walk their entry down the runway and it is auctioned off to attendees by our amazing auctioneer, Billie Stevens. Entries are judged by a panel of judges and First Place winner will receive a registration for the 2018 convention.
Q: Can you tell me more about your 2017 convention and it’s theme?
A: This year our theme is “Fairy Tales Really Do Come True” and we have asked participating artists to each pick a Fairy Tale to go with their event. Currently, the artists are Nikki Britt, Connie Lowe, Charlene Smith of My Meadows, Kim Lasher, Dianna Effner, Bo Bergmann, Judy Porter, Pat Moulton, Sarah Seiter of the Mushroom Peddler, Beverly Stoeher, Claudia Hillesheim of Boneka and Joshua McKenney of Pidgin Doll.
In addition, we offer seminars, programs, workshops, a sales room, a Helper room and many meal events starting on Wednesday and ending with the souvenir banquet on Saturday night. This year we are also offering a Competition Exhibit focusing on the Fairy Tale theme. We encourage attendees to dress in their favorite fairy tale costume while attending events, but especially for the final banquet on Saturday.
Q: Do you completely change location each year?
A: Show locations are chosen by the board and we try to go from East to Midwest or West Coast. We do change locations every year. We used to have an anchor hotel in Vegas, but that was torn down. We are looking at hotels for 2018 right now and have not finalized our location yet.
Q: Can you tell me a little about the hotel for this year’s event?
A: We discovered something really fun when we went to Danvers, MA to check out the hotel. The DoubleTree has its own indoor water park, CoCo Key, an arcade room, spa, salon, indoor pool and fitness facility. A full day pass at the park is $45 and there is also a “spectator” fee, but I can’t remember that off the top of head, if you just want to watch your kiddos.
Looks like something for everyone to be entertained while WE play with dolls!
Q: What Fairy Tale has each artist selected?
A: Here is a list of the Fairy Tales for each artist:
Connie Lowe – Little Red Riding Hood
Bo Bergemann – Snow White
Judy Porter & Pat Moulton-The Wizard of Oz
Nikki Britt – Peter Pan
My Meadows – Puff the Magic Dragon
The Mushroom Peddlar – Baby Dragons
Beverly Stoeher – Goldilocks
Dianna Effner – Cinderella
Boneka – The Nutcracker
Kim Lasher – Alice In Wonderland
Joshua McKenney (Pidgin Doll) will be doing a seminar on the Fairy Tale, “The Red Shoes” and offering a 16″ Pidgin doll to go with it. We are excited about that!
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Modern Doll Collectors Convention
