Princess Ozma's Annual Teddy Bear Tea Party
to be Held at the Yellow Brick Road
The Yellow Brick Road
Gift Shop & Oz Fantasy Museum
109 E. Yellow Brick Road (950 N), Chesterton, IN 46304 (219) 926-7048
The Event Specialists
P.O. Box 131 – 3080 E. Covenanter Drive – Bloomington, IN 47402
(812) 336-7456 – allene47402@yahoo.com
For immediate release – September 10, 2007
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 22nd 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 16, 2007. It will be hosted by Princess Ozma of Oz and is co-sponsored by The Yellow Brick Road and Country Inn & Suites by Carlson. The event is a part of Munchkinland Market Days (September 14, 15 & 16) which is sponsored by The Yellow Brick Road, Hilton Garden Inn and the Chesterton Jewel-Osco. The tea party is being produced in cooperation with Lakeshore Festival & Events, producers of the 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, including last year’s at the Expo Center in Valpo.
This year, the Princess, her tea party and her puppets return to the Yellow Brick Road after 23 years to host the joy-filled 22nd Annual Teddy Bear Tea Party. The program opens each year with a ventriloquist show featuring the Princess, Sassy Ann and Teddy Bear. New this year are two puppets – Naughty Dog and Patchwork Dragon and a party tent pitched among the attractions and art and craft booths at Munchkinland Market Days 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. Visiting royalty and a visiting dignitary will help Princess Ozma with the judging. Miss Duneland’s Outstanding Teen Megan Thwaites is a high school student and dancer who won her title as part of the Miss Duneland Scholarship Pageant, an official preliminary to the Miss Indiana and Miss America programs. The visiting dignitary is Roberta Newlin of the Portage Country Inn & Suites.
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. Over the past summer she was touched to receive a wedding invitation from a grateful adult who had attended many years as a child and continued to visit through their teen years. Now the bride and groom wanted Princess Ozma to be present at their wedding.
The Teddy Bear Tea Party is free. The first 40 children to attend receive a goodie bag provided by Princess Ozma, The Yellow Brick Road and Country Inn & Suites. Cookies and punch 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. They can be reached at (219) 926-7048 or check the website at www.yellowbrickroadonline.com.
