Pez to sell... check, Money to buy pez... check, oh yeah and I guess it’s a good idea to bring extra clothes and toothbrush. On the road to POTR time sure did drag by. Why is it the last 15 minutes feels like an hour. We finally arrive at hotel and see this sign welcoming us all.
I wonder what non Pez collectors think when they see this.
Arrived on Thursday a little to early so room was not ready, so ran over to Toys R Us and found the new Trolls on cards and the mini’s in the two pack box. WOOT! WOOT! One less thing to look for now. Back at hotel checked in and headed to registration room. Sandy and Cheryl Garner-Ghionzoli host of Pez on the River always put so much into this convention. Thank you ladies for a very fun weekend.
Behind them are the auction items. Half were for a live auction the other half for the silent auction. Many donated fantastic items which raised money for the convention charity Home and Community Options. These four hanging quilts were beautiful and were an item in the live auction.
Got my registration packet and bought some extra goodies. The theme this year was Community Hero's. Policeman, Fireman and Army Ranger were the attendee, Puck was for dealers, Nurse the charity dispenser. If you bought the Captain Logs PezGo pack you got to pick an older version hero I picked the Army Ranger. You also got to pick a plastic egg to win a prize I won the picture candy pack set.
Now for some room hopping. I always love all the signs the dealers make so you know which rooms to go to. Everyone is so creative. It is so hard to decide what to buy when every room has awesome Pez in it. This year I ended up buying most of my pez stuff from Brian J. and Jessica O.'s room. Here is Brian Cornett, Sophie Terwilliger and Brian jaskolski.
Anyone who shows up on Thursday are called early birds and Sandy and Cheryl have started a tradition of having a BBQ. Tons of delicious food and lots of laughter visiting with other Pezheads.
Friday more Pez Heads arrived and it was more room hopping and visiting. I noticed a My Melody dispenser on top of an exit sign outside of the Cartwright's room. I asked Rick if he put it there and when he said no I realized Sandy and Cheryl had hidden dispensers all over the hotel to find as they did the first year at POTR. The hunt was on. Rick Cartwright. Rick Marlowe and I searched all over the hotel. We did find more and the prize was an extra PezGo card for each one you found.
Friday night PezGo and Live auction. Phyllis Oreck took this picture of me concentrating on my PezGo card hoping to win, no luck maybe next year.
The awesome Eric Thorell was the auctioneer and did a wonderful job as always.
There was a Community Hero's costume contest and there were 5 wonderful creative entries. The 1st place winner went to Amanda Patoka for her Firefighting Fireman. Awesome job Amanda.
Headed to bed early to be up in time for the Saturday show. This is the show room before the crowed of buyers showed up. The last picture is my two tables. Had a great time selling, talking pez and meeting new pezheads.
Saturday night Pez List Party and more POTR games. Sue Davis always has creative wonderful dispensers for the party and Rhonda Rasmusson keeps us learning with her trivia games. This years theme was bears. From real to toilet paper to cartoon ones. Everyone gets to pick a brown paper bag and you either get a dispenser or a cute gift related to bears. The bears all had painted hats and different color sunglasses. 17 each of blue, red, white and yellow. 20 of the pink were given to special people who helped in putting the party together, host of convention, one lucky winner found one in a bag and that was Karen Pachowicz and the rest were auctioned off or will be auctioned off on Pez auction so watch for your chance to win one.
Before the games begun we were thrilled to honor a group of Army Reservist staying at the same hotel. Cheryl gave them each a Army Ranger dispenser with POTR 2016 on the stem. They introduced themselves and told us where they were from. We all clapped and thanked them for their service. This was very special to me because my father was in the Army and I married a Marine.
After the list party Sandy and Cheryl had some awesome games to play. We were divided into four groups. Even though Team #1 did not win they will always be #1 to me. Go Team #1. There was Candy pack Jenga, Moving pez bricks with a straw (thought I was going to faint on this one lol), Wooden dice (did not do good), Knocking bowling pins down while wearing nylons with balls in them on your head.(thank goodness I just cheered my team for this one), Assembling body parts(not as easy as you think it might be), and the awesome knocking off the table pez dispensers and heads. Lets just say Pezheads were hit more then the dispensers on the table. Much laughter and a great time.
I want to thank Sandy and Cheryl and everyone who helped with POTR 2016. I had such a blast. The best part for me is always seeing friends and meeting new ones.
-Kelly Jo
