Spring Fling offers food and fun to benefit Besore library

The Besore Memorial Library Spring Fling is out of tickets, but organizers

don¹t want the purchasers to forget about the big fundraising event, with

doors opening at 5:30 p.m. March 17 at Green Grove Gardens. The Capital

Campaign Comittee invites everyone to come ready to have fun and support the

renovation and expansion needs of the library.

The public as well has an opportunity to help out. A hand-carved cane, made

by Joe Snyder of Greencastle, is on display at the library, and people may

make sealed bids from now until the event. The cane features the names of

all the generals who were part of the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil

War.

The 200 tickets sold out two weeks in advance, to the delight of the

committee. It has been working for months to prepare for the Spring Fling,

and many businesses responded with donated items for various types of

auctions. In addition, guests will sample food and beverages from local

vendors. The Morgan Jenkins Trio will provide music for the evening.

Up for grabs

One item that will be on the auction block is a handmade wooden dollhouse,

which speculators think could have been constructed in the 1920s or Œ30s.

Julie Craig, a longtime doll collector, donated the house.

³I¹m a frequent visitor to the library to use the computers and I wanted to

do something to help,² she said.

She has owned the little building for about 20 years. Her husband got it for

her when he attended an auction.

³ŒBuy me a dollhouse¹ I told him, and this is what Jim came home with,² said

Craig.

The two-room house was empty, save a chimney, fireplaces and windows, so

Craig went to work. She made a brick floor for the kitchen, added floor

mats, wood crossbeams on the walls, and furniture to fill the space. Some

came from Playmobile sets, which she painted for a more rustic look. She put

in a grandfather clock, sink with a spout on the wall, laundry basket, beds

with coverlets, curtains, a stove and table.

No detail was too small. Craig fashioned a basket of vegetables from

artistic materials that she slowly baked, to ensure the tiny carrots and

potatoes would live forever. She made other little accoutrements to make the

house a miniature home.

The dollhouse sits on a turntable so it is easily adjusted to display the

interior or the front entrance.

It is among the $8,000 worth of donated merchandise which will be sold or

raffled off next Thursday.