No offense, Idalia! She has received a few compliments on her eyes, so I won't pick on her too badly. But there wouldn't have been a doll remotely like Idalia in the Calgary pageant since the pageant was in 1984, while popcorn hair and the #11 head both appeared in 1986. Anywho, Deer Valley Market Place in Calgary apparently thought it would be fun to have a beauty pageant for Cabbage Patch Kids, and it actually...was a resounding success. 274 kids entered at least one doll, and since there was a limit of six dolls per child there were 384 dolls. Black, white, male, female, it didn't matter as long as it was a Cabbie! I even saw a few with sandy hair like Idalia's. The judging categories were "Best Dressed," "Most Original Costume," "Most Talented," and an evening wear division. C'mon, the evening wear part is the best part of a beauty pageant! Or it was always my favorite part of the Miss America pageant. Anyway, since it was so close to Christmas Santa Claus was one of the judges. I love that part!
"Okay," you may be asking, "how did an inanimate object do talent?" LOL, that part made me giggle, since there were PLENTY of dancers in the bunch. The talent part was up to the kids; they'd dress up their dolls in the appropriate outfit and then make them dance, probably like some of y'all did with your toys once. I admit that my Raggedy Ann sometimes moonlighted as a can-can dancer since she was so limber (floppy, LOL). I liked the idea of one little boy making his doll breakdance, but probably if I were to enter Idalia Gale in such a shenanigan she would be doing a quick Riverdance routine. Or a can-can routine; gotta keep Raggedy Ann's memory alive. Idalia herself is convinced that she too can breakdance.
"Okay," you may be asking, "how did an inanimate object do talent?" LOL, that part made me giggle, since there were PLENTY of dancers in the bunch. The talent part was up to the kids; they'd dress up their dolls in the appropriate outfit and then make them dance, probably like some of y'all did with your toys once. I admit that my Raggedy Ann sometimes moonlighted as a can-can dancer since she was so limber (floppy, LOL). I liked the idea of one little boy making his doll breakdance, but probably if I were to enter Idalia Gale in such a shenanigan she would be doing a quick Riverdance routine. Or a can-can routine; gotta keep Raggedy Ann's memory alive. Idalia herself is convinced that she too can breakdance.
Of course I can! Anyone can!
Now I don't know about ANYONE; I sure as heck can't. But Idalia could dance just about anything, or she could be original and display her ability to hold small objects; in 1984 NO Cabbie could do that.
Idalia is a southpaw, by the way. It was...I think 1986 that Cabbies with gripping hands were introduced, and like we humans, the majority of 'em were right-handed. I didn't know when I bought Idalia that she had a grasping hand at all, thus learning that she was left-handed was a delight. And yeah, that's our dearly departed friend Dandelion that she's holding. That was one of my favorite crayon colors as a kid, and I miss it now.
Neither the news story nor the article I found (essentially a transcript of the news story) say if the same doll was entered in all divisions of the pageant, or if a kid had to enter one doll for the evening wear division and a different doll for talent. I also wonder if all of these dolls were Coleco-dressed or if some busy mamas and grandmas made the dolls their clothes? The doll dressed in blue, seen towards the end of the news story, looks like she was dressed homemade, and if that's the case then I hope that kid won an award. The chosen shade of blue looked fabulous with the doll's red braids. But I know that sewing for dolls wasn't out of the question back then (just like it isn't today). There were even patterns!
I have to admit that the idea of a beauty pageant for Cabbage Patch Kids left me giggling and scratching my head, but I've also gotta admit that it's a cute, innocent idea. Instead of running amok in the mall or driving their parents nuts at home, these kids were out enjoying some innocent fun. And they were having fun with dolls they already had, rather than clamoring for something new (like they or their parents probably had done the Christmas before). The mall also admitted that it was great marketing, and back then marketing was everything for a shopping mall. Nowadays malls aren't the thing that they were; indeed, today Deer Valley appears to be a strip mall with several big-box stores and drug/medical joints. But in 1984 malls and Cabbage Patch Kids were both very, VERY relevant, and Deer Valley was where the 1984 Cabbage Patch Kid beauty pageant was held. I found no evidence that this event was repeated, but I did find another news story about a similar get-together in Toronto earlier in the year. That was a mass birthday party for Cabbies, and that story can be found HERE. Apparently the Cabbies released in 1983 all had a birthday of September 1st listed, so cake, ice cream bars, and soda pop were given out to a huge crowd of Cabbie parents AND parents' parents (LOL). At least one lucky kid even won a new Kid in a drawing. The little kid who won the doll was a boy who stated that Cabbies were "girl stuff," a point disproven by the boy in Calgary with the breakdancing Kid. LOL again.
Treesa, you're my fellow Cabbie fan! If there were such thing as beauty pageants for Cabbies today, would you enter any of yours??? I know I would! Idalia Gale says she'd do it in a heartbeat.
Love and laughs,
RagingMoon1987
Neither the news story nor the article I found (essentially a transcript of the news story) say if the same doll was entered in all divisions of the pageant, or if a kid had to enter one doll for the evening wear division and a different doll for talent. I also wonder if all of these dolls were Coleco-dressed or if some busy mamas and grandmas made the dolls their clothes? The doll dressed in blue, seen towards the end of the news story, looks like she was dressed homemade, and if that's the case then I hope that kid won an award. The chosen shade of blue looked fabulous with the doll's red braids. But I know that sewing for dolls wasn't out of the question back then (just like it isn't today). There were even patterns!
I have to admit that the idea of a beauty pageant for Cabbage Patch Kids left me giggling and scratching my head, but I've also gotta admit that it's a cute, innocent idea. Instead of running amok in the mall or driving their parents nuts at home, these kids were out enjoying some innocent fun. And they were having fun with dolls they already had, rather than clamoring for something new (like they or their parents probably had done the Christmas before). The mall also admitted that it was great marketing, and back then marketing was everything for a shopping mall. Nowadays malls aren't the thing that they were; indeed, today Deer Valley appears to be a strip mall with several big-box stores and drug/medical joints. But in 1984 malls and Cabbage Patch Kids were both very, VERY relevant, and Deer Valley was where the 1984 Cabbage Patch Kid beauty pageant was held. I found no evidence that this event was repeated, but I did find another news story about a similar get-together in Toronto earlier in the year. That was a mass birthday party for Cabbies, and that story can be found HERE. Apparently the Cabbies released in 1983 all had a birthday of September 1st listed, so cake, ice cream bars, and soda pop were given out to a huge crowd of Cabbie parents AND parents' parents (LOL). At least one lucky kid even won a new Kid in a drawing. The little kid who won the doll was a boy who stated that Cabbies were "girl stuff," a point disproven by the boy in Calgary with the breakdancing Kid. LOL again.
Treesa, you're my fellow Cabbie fan! If there were such thing as beauty pageants for Cabbies today, would you enter any of yours??? I know I would! Idalia Gale says she'd do it in a heartbeat.
Love and laughs,
RagingMoon1987
I'm not sure how my "patch" would feel about entering a talent competition, but I would certainly feel self-conscious toting around a Cabbage Patch Kid in public at my age. Though you'd think I would be old enough by now not to give a 'fig' what other people think of me. Coincidentally, I have plans to work on that whole self-conscious character flaw in the near future. I'm hoping to field test my Star Wars inspired Halloween outfit at a local Oktoberfest celebration. It's not a full costume, more of a franchise inspired look using regular clothes. But the outfit does feature a Star Wars plush alien in a baby carrier style bag as part of the look. I dressed him up in an older Build-A-Bear outfit called Alpine Boy so he'll blend in at the event, lol. We'll see how things go, if I don't chicken out.
ReplyDeleteSigned, Treesa
Ooo, share pictures when you put it on! I love cosplay, though I don't yet do it myself (I'm not a big enuff fan of Star Wars, and I don't look a thing like any of the Doctors, old or young). LOL, I have few reservations about carrying around a Cabbie or an American Girl meself, but I draw the line at something Sandy McCall's size. When does Oktoberfest start? What day of October?
DeleteThe true German Oktoberfest is a multi-week event held from mid-September to around the first weekend in October. I'll be attending a one-day event that's being held as a fundraiser for a local church.
DeleteAs for pictures, I don't really like to share my face on the internet. But I was hoping to snap a few photos of Dill (as I've nicknamed my 'baby alien') at the event, to post on Facebook. That just shows how old I am.
Dill also has two older 'foster brothers', Cress and Rhodey the Rodian. Yes, Rhodey's name is a veiled Marvel reference, even though Rodians are an alien race from Star Wars. Pretty much everything is Disney-owned now anyway. You should hear what I nicknamed my Baby Groot plush from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
Signed, Treesa
Yeah, I'm not big on showing my face either, though I've done it twice on my hair bow blog. I'm no looker so no one will come looking for me, LOL. As for names, one of my cats is named "Adric," and Mama once had two named "Chewbacca" and "Leia," so no biggie on Dill and his brothers' names! Your stuff, your rules! I bet Groot's nickname is awesome.
DeleteBecause in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Groot's language is composed solely of him repeating the phrase "I am Groot" with different intonations, I call my Baby Groot plush I.M. Groot, but the I.M. stands for Inigo Montoya. If you're a fan of the movie The Princess Bride, you'll recognize the reference.
DeleteSigned, Treesa
LOL, I think it's cute!
Delete