Unique dollhouse on silent auction at RFL Library

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

In 1999, Debbie Joncas got a bug--a creative bug.

It started gnawing at her years ago. An old dollhouse her grandfather gave her was never completely finished, Joncas explained. Over the years it landed in several disparate attics before she found both the right time and someone to help her restore and furnish it.

"It was so much fun, I decided I wanted to make more dollhouses," she said. "The problem was what to do with them after they were finished."

The problem was conveniently solved through her friendship with a Red Feather Lakes neighbor, Sue Weisse, a Friends of the Library Board member who introduced her to the library. Joncas's first donated dollhouse was auctioned at the 2001 Red Feather Lakes Fine Arts Festival to benefit the library.

Joncas and her husband, Paul, have owned a summer residence in Red Feather Lakes for 15 years, long before they moved permanently to Colorado in 2001 when Paul became pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Fort Collins.

Every year since 2002, Joncas has donated a different style Christmas dollhouse for silent auction at the library. "It's a win-win situation," she said. "The library gets the money, somebody gets to take home the dollhouse, and I have the fun of making it."

This year's house, which she started just after Labor Day, is a log ranch house modified from a kit. "I've learned over the years how to design and make some of the furnishings and other ways to be creative using bits saved from quilting projects," Joncas said.

Joncas, a Wisconsin native, said she was very impressed with the library from the first time she saw it. "I love books, and it was an instant affinity," she said. "It makes me happy to be able to contribute."

The Christmas dollhouse is on display at the library until Dec. 21, when bidding in the silent auction closes at 5 p.m. Red Feather Lakes library director Sarah Myers said all proceeds from the auction go into general operating funds.

"It's been a delightful holiday tradition for the library, and we are very grateful for this wonderful contribution," Myers said.