Our Club's history would not be complete without detailing the themes that were chosen for our shows.  Each year members received a corresponding kit in miniature to complete and exhibit at the Show.  If  a special, or difficult  theme was picked, the members were given ideas and help in following this theme to create unique miniature scenes.  We have become known for our outstanding exhibits of miniatures and our creative abilities.

The first year, (1980) the Club held a miniature show and sale on the second floor of the Dunfeys Hotel.  The experience led to a bigger and better Show the following year in the grand Ballroom.  There, we could have a large exhibit and many more dealers in attendance.  Thus, we started our themes......

The first such theme (1981) was a Street of Shops, constructed and furnished by the Society members from Carlson Kits.  Some shops displayed included: needlework; stained glass; shell store; music studio; ice cream parlor; horse barn and a blacksmith shop.

The following year (1982) we made and exhibited break-away boxes such as: a fishing shanty; old-fashioned kitchen; a Christmas scene; and a Valentine box, to name just a few.

Building a shadow box behind any picture frame (1983) produced attics; basements; a living room; an antique shop; and a 1/2" scale bedroom.

In 1984, the Circus theme, replete with a giant "three-ring" tent featuring animal acts and trapeze performers was a show stopper, along with the beautiful, electrified, working  Merry-Go-Round in miniature.  Each member contributed a concession stand for the Midway, including a pizza booth, salt water taffy stand, ring toss, many other games of chance, and a judges' stand with canned goods, basketry, needlework, and baked goods being judged.

The next year (1985) our Cape Cod Cottages, from a design by Lou and Seena Rosenberg, featured a veterinarian's office; a dog groomer; a bake shop; a law office; a yarn shop;  a toy store; and a department store fashioned after a well-known Cape emporium.  Comfort stations, one for each sex, was heralded at the end of the town on the street corner.

Two three-story apartment buildings in the Lilliputian Village (1986) had eighteen rooms each, abutting the opposite sides of Main Street.  On the first floor were the lobbies and elevators in both apartment buildings, next to them, stretching along the sidewalks were the Super's office, a laundromat, a furnace room, a few shops, an artist gallery, and a restaurant with a beautiful garden for outdoor seating.  The upper floors showed the living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, a master bedroom, a teenager bedroom, an apartment under renovation, and a one-room efficiency.  It was most impressive.

In 1987, the first year at our new location, the Sheridan Hotel, the Western Village brought rave reviews for the Saloon; a one-room school house; Rose's Place; a church; a cemetery; Wells Fargo office with a hold-up in progress; the Emporium; a farm house with a vegetable garden; a wishing well; an outhouse; two horses, each drawing beautiful carriages down the Main Street, and, of course, a bordello.

The next theme, (1988) "Doorways and Windows of Cape Cod" captured many outdoor scenes in the roomboxes.  Some included: the clean, inviting front of a bakery shop with children looking into the window;   the next roombox had the back of the same bakery with the trash, mess, and cats into the rubbish; other scenes: a child on a swing in a front yard; a beautiful garden; a front porch; and the facade of the local pub.

The following year, (1989) the club presented something different - an outdoor Summer, Town Park scene.
It included many blossoming trees, long hedges, flowers, picnic tables, people walking through the park, mothers with baby carriages, and children playing.  A very nice exhibit.

The Club went to a smaller scale in 1990.  Dick Landry cut out of ply-wood, 1/2" scale Cape Cod style house parts for the members to assemble and decorate.  Each one was different, interestingly finished and beautiful.

Turning to a glass dome (1991) the club's theme was an indoor and outdoor scene.  Each member was required to build a wall dividing the space in half,  inside of the dome, so that a miniature scene could be built depicting the interior and the exterior of an area.  Amazing, the creativity that was displayed by the membership. Some presentations were: a mouse house; a Christmas scene; a New Year's Eve party; a front hall with a garden entrance; and a maid sitting on the window sill washing the glass panes.

The club members picked a music box theme (1992) and chose a tune that they wanted in order to create a miniature scene to go along with it.  There were birthday parties, snow scenes, Christmas themes, baby themes, and school scenes, along with a garage sale.

In 1993, the membership had their choice of 1" scale or 1/2" scale porch kits.  It was an excellent kit to assemble and decorate.  Some presentations were: the Fourth of July; the Arrival of Spring; a yard sale; Halloween; a Christmas scene; a family visiting for a cookout; a bar room; and a member's paternal grandmother's old-style porch.

Again the members were fortunate to receive a wooden kit for a two-story Victorian house, (1994)  either in 1" scale or 1/2" scale, designed by Dick Landry, and cut out of plywood for each to assemble.  These displays encouraged  the most creative talents of our members.  The exhibit included:  a ski lodge with snow;  a vacation home; a millenary shop; an authentic Oaks Bluffs' home; and a house with a gas station under it; to list just a few.

The club chose a wooden shadow box kit containing a drawer across the bottom (1995).  Because of the smaller space available for a miniature scene, many members continued their ingenious ideas using the opened drawer as a landscaped yard, or a flower garden, or an extended porch.  There were shown a great variety of scenes: a museum room with a statue of  David; a wedding scene; a library; a shell shop made into a working, full-sized lamp; a beauty shop; a Nautical book store; and the Cape Cod Hospice Thrift Shop, all designed in miniature.

We expressed our creative talents through the next theme (1996) "The Four Seasons of Cape Cod".  Each club member designed a "season" in miniature within the roombox.  Depicted were: Winter snow scenes, snowmen; sledding; Christmas celebrations; Spring flowers; birthday parties; yard sales; Summer outdoor picnics; and a beautiful sandy, beach scene looking into the ocean from a porch; a lovely Japanese garden; an outdoor clamming scene; Fall in New England with colorful leaves; harvest time; country farm scenes; and school semester beginning again.

The next year (1997) the membership chose "Unusual Containers" to show off our miniatures.  It was a wonderful and original exhibit.  We also ask the club members to include in their original creations a list of fifteen household, simple items, as a scavenger hunt in miniature.  One member, Sue Daniels,  included all items in her ocean front scene with a mermaid and a family by the waterside.  A garden shop was displayed in a watering can with surrounding plantings, and also a flower shop in a clay pot laying on its side.  There were: a real fire alarm box with mini firemen, fire engine, and a Dalmatian dog depicting the fire station; an oatmeal box made into a shower stall with a nude taking a shower; shown was a mini tea pot with a Winnie-the-Pooh home inside; a large soap box with a laundry inside; a papier mache pumpkin with a Halloween scene; and an imported tin box depicting an Italian outdoor cafe scene.

The following year (1998) "A Library in Miniature" was the theme for the Show.  Each member had to use a book in their scene by building a miniature on top of a book laying on its side, or by standing the book up, opened, to create a miniature scene inside between the book covers.  Displayed were: the Secret Garden; a Ghost in the Attic; Little Red Ridinghood; Flower Fairies in the garden; and a How-to-make-a-Pillow store.

In 1999, the club chose "A Celebration in Miniature" depicting the Holidays throughout the year or other family gatherings, such as: birthday parties; graduation; new baby in the home; Fourth of July; Christmas; a family reunion in Grandma's 1910 kitchen; a Thanksgiving dinner being prepared; a new car dealership called "Topless Motors" (selling only convertibles); and an "after the 50th wedding anniversary party", a solitary couple dancing with happy memories in the gazebo.

A new century was beginning the year 2000, so the members decided on "A Mallenium in Miniature"  for the Show's theme.  We designed a faux-marble base for the Mall, placing the assembled stores on both sides, having a garden fountain in the center, and benches, plants and trees along the shopping area.  There were little people walking and shopping the length of the wide corridor and gazing into the stores.  The shops in the Mall included: a quilt shop; an artist's gallery; an antique store; a furniture store; a gift shoppe; a cart with flowers, fruit and delectables for sale; a dance studio; a store that sold Western goods and Indian artifacts; a unique china shop; a fruit and vegetable stand; a bakery; an eating establishment; a flower shop and of course, comfort stations.

"Your Wish Can Come True in Miniature" was the Show theme the following year (2001).  We had an interesting wooden kit to assemble with a curved front covered by plexiglass to protect the mini scene.  Exhibited were: a college teaching scene; Spring Bunny's helper, with all egg-shaped miniatures; a woman relaxing in the bubble bath; and the Roseland State Ballroom; to name a few.

In 2002, "Winter Memories" brought cold, snowy scenes of Cape Cod and New England, along with Holiday celebrations of the season.  During the year we had worked on a six-month mini project, Summer Camping, and those miniature scenes were also exhibited.

The year 2003, the club had chosen "Picture This" for the membership to create mini scenes in a shadow box behind a frame of their choice.  We exhibited in 1" and 1/2" scales.  Even our door prize was an outdoor, backyard scene with a picket fence, a lawn mower and lovely flowers all built inside a picture frame by Charlie Fox. 

This year, the club's 25th birthday celebration, we are putting on our best Show.  As a special event for our miniaturist friends, we have planned a wonderful banquet with beautiful centerpieces, which will be given away free, and a fabulous souvenir for each person attending the banquet, and many more "mini" surprises.  This weekend, of November 13th and 14th, is a "must do" on your calendar.  We have been given special rates at the Radisson, also, so DON'T MISS OUT!!!