The Yellow Brick Road
Gift Shop & Oz Fantasy Museum
109 E. Yellow Brick Road (950 N), Chesterton, IN 46304 (219) 926-7048
Munchkinland Market Days
September 14, 15 & 16, 2007
For immediate release – August 20, 2007
Contact: Allen Pease, The Event Specialists at (812) 336-7456 or The Yellow Brick Road at (219) 926-7048
Munchkinland Market Days to assist food pantry, Lions Club and scholarship fund . . .
Chesterton, Indiana – The Westchester Neighbors Food Pantry, Burns Harbor Lions Club and the Duneland Working Women Scholarship Fund will benefit from this year’s Munchkinland Market Days Festival. Along with the fund raising for Duneland charities are three days of celebrity autograph sessions, children’s games, collectible hunting, food, fun and fantasy during the 13th annual Munchkinland Market Days held in cooperation with the 26th annual Indiana Wizard of Oz Festival. The events are September 14, 15 & 16. The Wizard of Oz Festival is produced by Lakeshore Festival & Events and held at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso. Munchkinland Market Days is produced by and held on the grounds of The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop & Oz Fantasy Museum two miles south of downtown Chesterton and is sponsored by The Yellow Brick Road, Hilton Garden Inn and Jewel-Osco of Chesterton along with Country Inn & Suites in Portage.
Each year, members of Duneland Working Women, an organization of business and professional women, staff Auntie Em’s Pie Booth which has become a tradition at Munchkinland Market Days. The women sell fresh brewed coffee, cold drinks and slices of homemade pie, just as Auntie Em may have done at the county fair in 1939 Kansas. The proceeds go to the annual Duneland Working Women Scholarship Fund for Porter County residents.
For the second year in a row, funds will also be raised for the Westchester Neighbors Food Pantry. The Munchkinland Market Days official souvenir program book has been so successful in past years that a sixth edition will be offered this year. It will include photos and stories about the celebrities appearing at Munchkinland Market Days as well as the history of the Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop. The suggested donation for the book is $1. Merchants and organizations that place ads in the souvenir program book make it possible for the entire proceeds to go to the Westchester Neighbors Food Pantry. Businesses and organizations sponsoring the book are The Yellow Brick Road, Hilton Garden Inn, Jewel-Osco of Chesterton and Country Inn & Suites. Supporters are Duneland Working Women, Edmonds & Evans Funeral Home, Embroidery & More and Haines Collision Center.
This will be the fourth year that the Burns Harbor Lions Club will raise funds at Munchkinland Market Days by selling their popular giant Oz coloring books, candy and Wizard of Oz pins. The group will also present three children’s games–each with an Oz theme. The entire proceeds of their booth will go to the Burns Harbor Lions Club.
Free autograph parties are scheduled each afternoon at the Yellow Brick Road. Celebrities appearing at Munchkinland Market Days are Meinhardt Raabe, the Munchkin Coroner and Karl Slover, one of the Munchkins who played a trumpet to herald Dorothy’s arrival in MGM’s 1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz.” Also appearing are Judy Garland’s stand-in Caren Marsh-Doll, poster artist Rick Ewigleben and Princess Ozma of Oz.
In addition to Auntie Em’s Pie Booth, the Lions Club children’s games and the free autograph parties, other activities include caricature artist Chuck Bonnett, art & craft booths, face painting and a vast array of Oz collectibles. In fact, Munchkinland Market Days is a collector’s paradise for any collector as well as for Oz buffs. One can find Dorothy dress-up clothes, Wizard of Oz dolls, Oz magnets, Oz T-shirts and sweatshirts, Oz music boxes, Oz water globes, Oz Christmas tree ornaments and hundreds of other Oz-themed keepsakes. There are also limited edition Oz figurines including a series from Lenox and limited edition Oz cookie jars from Star Jars. Other collectibles include plush animals, Hollywood memorabilia, dolls, doll clothes, unique jewelry and books.
The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop & Oz Fantasy Museum is at the corner of State Route 49 and the Indiana Toll Road, two miles south of downtown Chesterton.
A free Munchkinland Market Days event guide is available by sending a stamped, self-addressed business-size envelope to Event Guide, Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop, 109 East Yellow Brick Road, Chesterton, IN 46304. The Yellow Brick Road can also be reached at their website www.yellowbrickroadonline.com or by calling (219) 926-7048.
