2022 UFDC Convention in St. Louis, MO - Timeless Treasures: Day 2, Special exhibits - part 1

Day 3 - Wednesday - The Special Exhibits were now open!

The first exhibit I visited was "The 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Revisited".

It was impressive from the moment I walked into the room. Look at those flowers!

The room was filled with posters, maps, postcards, and souvenirs from the fair. There were dolls dressed as visitors and exhibitors though out the room in various vignettes.

The dolls below are indulging in this new thing, ice cream cones.

Period appropriate Barbie and her twin shared stereoscopic images of the fair with visitors.

There was a working model of the flower clock.

Remember that 1944 movie "Meet Me in St. Louis"? Of course it is represented in the display. Just think, the movie was released just 40 years after the fair, and already so much had changed. In comparison, the movie was released 78 years ago (!!!) and we still watch it.

This section had posters from some of the International and U.S. State exhibitions and coordinating dolls.

First up was the Alaskan Exhibit.

The Filipino exhibit. Note, if you look online you can find information about this exhibit. Not surprisingly, considering when the fair took place, some of the living people in the Filipino exhibit were not necessarily there of there own free will (trafficked) or treated kindly and/or culturally sensitively.

The Japan exhibit.

And Native American exhibits. Geronimo, himself, was there. I am not going to add my commentary here, do some reading and come up with your own thoughts on this. (I might be a bit cranky today.)

Cereal shot out of a gun. I had to laugh.

In a glass display case were souvenirs from the fair.

When done traveling through the exhibit you could spin the wheel and win a prize, just like at a fair. In this case, the prize was candy.

The exhibit was beautiful and very educational. Thank you, Region 5.

2022 UFDC Convention in St. Louis, MO - Timeless Treasures: Day 1

 Tuesday was the first official day of the convention. Kelsey, my travel doll, and I went to the mini-office for our 9AM-12PM shift. Being the first real day, there were lots of questions on where the rooms were for the seminars, workshops, and meal events; as well as the competition room, helper room, and sales room, and when they would open.

I had a lunch event that afternoon: Merrythought - A Boy and His Bear - Forever Friends. 

The table centerpiece. It was surrounded by little bottles of honey for each attendee.

Kelsey brought her teddy bear - Shellie May to the luncheon.

I was impressed with the healthy lunch that was served. It included a baby kale and blackberry salad,

salmon with green bean over grains, 

and a carrot cake with more berries. It all tasted soooo good.

John Port gave a sweet program about himself and his stuffed bears, Christopher Robin and his bear - Edward Bear, and various stuffed bears through the years based on Edward Bear/Winnie the Pooh.

Our souvenir is Little Edward Bear by Merrythought. I like that he just came in a bag, much easier to pack than a cardboard box.

Table favors included a red vest for the bear and a Merrythought passport.

After lunch, I walked through the ODACA sales room, bought Helper tickets, and checked out the Helper room. There were so many lovely items in there.

We had dinner, again, in the bar, and due to the looooooooong wait, missed the opening ceremonies. I was sad about that. It was my first time ever to miss them. And then we waited for the grand opening of the Sales room with 700+ other doll people.

It was a long and busy day, but a great start to the convention.

2022 UFDC Convention in St. Louis, MO - Timeless Treasures: Pre-Convention, part 2

 Monday morning, Kelsey and I once again headed to the Arch.

It was a beautiful, sunny day.

After taking some photos outside, I went inside and toured the Museum at the Gateway Arch. What is neat is that the museum has completely new and different exhibits, than when it was the Museum of Western Expansion (which I visited in 2010 or 2011). Doing some research, I found out that the museum was renovated, starting in 2015 and opened in 2018.

After exploring the museum, I checked out the gift shop (of course) and then had lunch at the Arch Cafe. I was... disappointed. If I was just expecting tourist site fast food, I would have been OK with it, but the online write up about the cafe had me expecting great things. Oh well. At least I got out of the hotel... it would be my last time until the convention ended.

That afternoon I checked into the convention and got my bag and packet and worked the first shift at the UFDC Mini-Office. It was a busy shift. Lots of convention attendees signing up for events, workshops, and seminars. And lots of confused people too. Luckily, the Mini-Office was there to help them.

After an invigorating 3 hours, I met up with my roommate, and we ended up at the bar, again. This time, Kelsey got to hang out with a friend too.

Then it was time for the Pre-Convention At Your Service Ice Cream Social and Fundraiser.

We were able to see and mingle with the other attendees who had already arrived and catch up with those we haven't seen in person in quiet a while. A low-stress way to prep for the next day.

2022 UFDC Convention in St. Louis, MO - Timeless Treasures: Pre-Convention

Last week was the 2022 UFDC Convention in St. Louis, MO - Timeless Treasures! If you have following my blog for a while, you know that I Looooove convention. 

This year my travel doll was Kelsey - a Siblie by Ruby Red Galleria. Here she is sitting on my backpack at the airport as we waited for our flight to St. Louis.

After a few delays, we arrived  and headed to the hotel. I am pleased to say that we had a decent view of the Arch.

Once I dropped my bags in the room, I knew I needed to get some dinner, so I decided to check out the Arch Cafe. When I got to the Arch, I discovered that the cafe was closed for the evening. I was a bit disappointed, but took advantage of the quiet evening to snap some pics.

Kelsey and Thomas Jefferson.

Kelsey in front of the Arch.

The Arch.

Kelsey in front of The Old Courthouse.

Having decided that I had sweltered in the summer heat enough, I headed back to the hotel to eat at the hotel bar - Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar. What makes it historical? I don't know. Maybe it refers to St. Louis's history of brewing?

Being pre-con, I only had a short wait to be seated. Kelsey kept me company, since otherwise I'd be on my own. Right after my dinner was served, more doll friends joined me for the evening. The food was OK, and the portions were large.

The beer was decent and refreshing after a long hot day.

Then back to the room I went to unpack and get a good night's sleep in preparation for the next day.