This year my main task at the Enchanted Forest was throwing glitter snow. It may have devolved into a glitter snow fight. If you can’t have fun at work, then why are you going?
Here’s my latest post on the PP blog about the history behind the EF and the hospital that it supports:
The Pink Palace Family of Museums
The Enchanted Forest began at the Goldsmith’s department store in Downtown Memphis. George Hettinger, designed the display, initially spreading out the characters throughout the store. The display grew each year, drawing visitors to walk through the ground floor displays. In the 1970s, Barry Hartzog, the store’s visual merchandising director, revitalized the exhibit by adding new characters that were child sized. Olive Gamble, the Goldsmith’s seamstress, made new costumes for the characters each year. In 1990, when the department store was struggling, they donated the Enchanted Forest to an organization called TWIGS.
The TWIGS (Together We Initiate Growth and Sharing) was an auxiliary group that formed in 1978 to support and raise money for Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center. Le Bonheur itself began in 1923 when a group of young Memphis women gathered to make clothing for the children of the Porter-Leath Orphanage. The called their sewing circle “le bon heur,”…
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