Barbiemania has engulfed the downtown square in Jefferson.

Jefferson Mayor Craig Berry gave a proclamation at a recent Jefferson City Council meeting that declared June as Barbie Month. With that, the public is invited to see a collection of the over 500 Barbie dolls that are on display at Sensibly Chic on the south part of the downtown square. Greene County Historical Society Co-Director Dianne Piepel says the donation of the dolls from the 1980s through the early 2000s was made to the historical museum last fall.

“Her name was Connie Hine and she grew up in Jefferson. She approached the museum and wanted to know if we would like her collection. It started out with just 100, and then 200, and pretty soon we had 600. All in their original boxes (and) in pristine condition. It’s quite the collection.” 

A group of women led by Sue Richardson and Muriel Lehman thought this kind of donation needed to be put on display. Richardson tells Raccoon Valley Radio they are using the Sensibly Chic building and calling the display “Barbie By The Bells” and for the month of June, people can see all the over 500 Barbies for $5 per person on Thursdays and Sundays from noon-5pm and Fridays and Saturdays from 10am-5pm. Children four and younger are free. All proceeds will go back to the historical museum and the historical society.

To kick things off, the movie “Barbie” is coming back to the Sierra Community Theatre in Jefferson this Friday through Sunday. Showtimes are 7pm on Friday and Saturday and a Sunday matinee at 2pm. Theatre Manager Sarah Nicholson is happy to partner with the historical society to bring this movie back for people to enjoy.

“Well it kind of happened organically, it’s one of those things where it’s a small town and everybody knows everybody. Somebody mentioned it and they asked if it’s something that we could do, and I said, ‘Yeah, I think, let me check.’ And that timing worked out well. So it was just a lot of fortunate steps, but we love working with community groups whenever we can.”      

There are another 400 Barbie dolls that are also on display at the museum from a previous donation that features more of the vintage Barbie dolls, including one of the first ones from 1959 by Arlene Klatt in 2003.