Because of the favorable response received last year, the producers of Munchkinland Market Days are again offering a free event guide for the annual festival scheduled from Sept. 16-18.

Munchkinland Market Days will again be held in cooperation with the annual Chesterton Wizard of Oz Festival. The Oz Festival, produced by Lakeshore Festival & Events., Inc, is held in the streets of downtown Chesterton. Munchkin-land Market Days, produced by the Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop and Oz Fantasy Museum, is held on its grounds, two miles south of Chesterton. A free shuttle bus, courtesy of the Oz Festival Committee, operates Saturday and Sunday between the two festivals.

Munchkinland Market Days features autograph parties with actors who appeared in MGM’s 1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz” and other Oz celebrities, a life-size Picture Yourself in Oz tableau, craft booths, Oz collectibles, Auntie Em’s Pie Booth, kids games, Spitunia the Clown, Mark the Magician, face painters and more. The event is sponsored by Coca-Cola, Hilton Garden Inn, Jewel-Osco and The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop.

Admission is free and there is no charge for autographs sessions. There’s a nominal fee to be photographed in the Picture Yourself in the Oz tableau. A wide variety of collectibles, books and photos are available for purchase. Auntie Em’s Pie Booth benefits the Duneland Working Women Scholarship Fund and Munchkin Kid’s Games benefits Burns Harbor Lions Club.

The free event guide will list all of the celebrities scheduled to appear in addition to listing the time each celebrity will appear and the time each of the other activities at Munchkinland Market Days will take place. To receive the free event guide, send a stamped (37¢), self-addressed business-size (#10) envelope to: Munchkinland Guide, Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop, 109 E. Yellow Brick Road, Chesterton, 46304 or check the website at www.yellowbrickroadonline.com

The Yellow Brick Road Gift Shop and OZ Fantasy Museum is located at SR 49 and the Indiana Toll Road. They can be reached at 926-7048.

Posted 8/31/2005