St. Michael’s Faire Crafter Wins Drawing for Historic Bil Baird Puppet
By JoAnnJ. Filed in Events |Tags: all God's creatures, Animals and prayer, Colossal Puppets, Events, pets
St. Michael’s – home of the Colossal Puppets – has picked a winner for the free puppet drawing from our 9th Annual Fete & Craft Faire held on October 2. A church member donated a rare, historic rod puppet stunningly dressed as a Parisienne madame from well-known puppeteer Bil Baird’s personal collection. The puppet appeared in the Federico Garcia Lorca puppet play “Don Cristobal” in 1965 and was given to Bil Baird by the Tandarica Theatre in Bucharest when he served as a judge at the international UNIMA Puppetry Festival. She was appraised at $625.
“Gigi” also appeared on a lovely full-color postcard mailing inviting folks in Litchfield and surrounding towns to come to our Faire. This mailing was through the generous sponsorship of two St. Michael’s members, and no doubt was responsible for filling the church for this year’s Tanglewood Marionette show “An Arabian Adventure.”
Warden Don Moore and Rev. Jenni Matheson chose winner Joseph Tocci of Torrington, who immediately gifted the puppet to his wife Suzanne, a crafter at St. Michael’s Fete & Craft Faire. A retired school teacher, Suzanne has 25 puppets in her own collection, most of them hand puppets used for storytelling. She was thrilled to add the Parisienne puppet to her collection.
All proceeds from St. Michael’s Fete & Craft Faire benefited the Torrington Volunteer Fire Company, the Torrington Community Kitchen, and the Little Guild of St. Francis.
