For immediate release – September 5, 2008
For more info, contact – Allen Pease at (812) 336-7456 or Marilyn Zengler at (219) 926-7048
Princess Ozma’s Teddy Bear Tea Party comes to Chesterton . . .
Chesterton, IN – The 23rd Annual Teddy Bear Tea Party will be held on the grounds of The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop & Oz Fantasy Museum at 1 p.m. on Sunday, September 14, 2008. It will be hosted by Princess Ozma of Oz and sponsored by The Yellow Brick Road. The event is a part of Munchkinland Market Days (September 12, 13 & 14) which is sponsored by Centier Bank, Hilton Garden Inn-Chesterton and The Yellow Brick Road. The tea party is being produced in cooperation with Lakeshore Festival & Events, producers of the Indiana Wizard of Oz Festival held the same days at the Expo Center in Valparaiso.
Princess Ozma (actually actress/ventriloquist Elaine Macejak—but don’t reveal that to the kids) first appeared in Chesterton at The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop in 1984 during the Wizard of Oz Festival. The next year she was asked to host the family-oriented Teddy Bear Tea Party when it was first sponsored by downtown Chesterton’s Katie’s Ice Cream Parlor, which continued to sponsor for more than a decade. The Princess has hosted every Teddy Bear Tea Party since with the help of her puppets Sassy Ann and Teddy Bear. There have been a variety of sponsors and locations.
The Princess, her tea party and her puppets return to the Yellow Brick Road for the second year in a row to host the joy-filled 23rd Annual Teddy Bear Tea Party. The program opens each year with a ventriloquist show featuring the Princess, Sassy Ann, Teddy Bear, Naughty Dog and Patchwork Dragon. A party tent pitched among the attractions and art and craft booths at Munchkinland Market Days will house the event on the grounds of the Yellow Brick Road.
The popular Teddy Bear Oz Costume Contest will return also. Children are encouraged to make Oz costumes for their own Teddy Bear, put them on their teddy bear and bring the bear to the Teddy Bear Tea Party. Prizes will be given to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place costumes.
Princess Ozma is honored to host the Teddy Bear Tea Party each year. Indicative of its popularity and fun, Ozma notes, is the fact that some children attend annually until their early teens and then often visit as guests for several more years. Many keep in touch by mail for years. She has received wedding and college graduation invitations from grateful adults who had attended many years as children.
The Teddy Bear Tea Party is free. The first 40 children to attend receive a goodie bag provided by Princess Ozma and The Yellow Brick Road. Juice drinks and snacks will be served.
Munchkinland Market Days is located at The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop & Oz Fantasy Museum at 109 E. Yellow Brick Road (Indiana Toll Road and St. Rt. 49), two miles south of downtown Chesterton.
The event features family-friendly activities including Auntie Em’s Pie Booth to benefit the Duneland Working Women’s Scholarship Fund, Oz kid’s games and hot caramel apples to benefit the Burns Harbor Lions Club, a hot dog stand to benefit Support Our Military, face painting, art and craft booths, celebrity autograph parties, thousands of Oz collectibles, Picture Yourself in Oz, the Oz Fantasy Museum and more. There is no admission charge. Sales of an official souvenir program book benefit the Westchester Neighbors Food Pantry. The event is sponsored by Centier Bank, Hilton Garden Inn-Chesterton and The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop.
The Yellow Brick Road can be reached at (219) 926-7048 or check the website at www.yellowbrickroadonline.com.
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