Teddybar Total

Imagine three huge halls packed with nearly 300 exhibitors and thousands of collectors – that’s what we found at Teddybär Total in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany. The world’s largest teddy bear show was a marvelous kaleidoscope of people and teddy bears. At right is Kellie with a Teddy Hermann studio-sized bear. Below is Diane with a Studio Steiff.





We met new artists, hugged century-old bears, visited with manufacturers, and reconnected with old friends. Here's Bettina Springweiler with one of her new bears, Knout (below right).






Helga Torfs (at left)

Eleonore Unkel-Schaufelin and

Heike Boam

Erika Knirsch of Crunchy Bears

Fabian Song

Martin Hermann with his company's show exclusive, Reiterbar.

Ursula Hermann with a new bear made with old heads she found in the attic!

We were honored to attend the banquet where the Golden George award winners were announced – congratulations to all of the winners. (See the list here.) One of the traditions of the banquet is the CAKE. It's huge, elaborately decorated, unique each year, and delicious. This year's cake was covered in 3-inch marzipan teddy bears. Really amazing!








Our hosts, Frank Wohlfarth, publisher; Jutta Nagels, ad sales; and Susanne Nagels, editor. They really went out of their way to make us and other foreign guests feel welcome at the show and banquet. They even projected Mr. Wohlfarth's speech in English so we non-German speakers could follow along.





As a bonus, the village of Wiedenbrück is charming and friendly. It's got timbered buildings, cobblestone streets, and outdoor cafes galore. The people seem to walk or ride bikes most places, which is good because the streets are reeeally narrow. This church was right behind our inn. The steeple has bells, which played concerts several times a day -- starting at 7:15 a.m. on Sunday!









We saw so much more and met so many wonderful people and bears! Look for more in upcoming issues of Teddy Bear and Friends!


Look here for information to plan next year’s visit. <http://www.teddybaertotal.de/CMS/O/1/s/e/>