Fun times at the Disneyana Fan Club 'mini-convention' over the president's day weekend.

The DFC held a 'mini-convention' over the recent holiday weekend to partially make up for the lack of a regular convention this July due to the D23 and Comic Con expos which are happening during the normal convention time frame. If you were able to make the two events and show and sale this past weekend you surely had a great time and possibly picked up a few new additions to your Disney collection. We know many of you couldn't make it and there are sure to be full details about the weekend in up-coming copies of the Disneyana Dispatch newsletter. But, in the meantime please enjoy a few photos of the two meal events. Also, more info. on the Studio Chapter's Pixar field trip will be posted soon. However there is still space available if you want to attend. See our previous post for details. See you real soon!

First up on Saturday evening was The Happiest Millionaire dinner event. We even got to take home our very own alligator.

This not so little guy was part of a photo op. And in case he looks familiar, you may have seen him in The World of Motion attraction at EPCOT.

After dinner 'The Four Gentlemen' started off the evening with several songs including our very own Disneyana theme song.

After that, there was a fantastic panel to discuss and reminisce about the movie. From the left--Caryl Carothers, Paul Petersen, Joyce Bulifant, Stacia Martin, Leslie Ann Warren and moderator Allan Halcrow. And in the front, just visible, another alligator prop. 

Paul Petersen and Leslie Ann Warren signing the poster. After the panel several items were auctioned off  (including this poster) with proceeds to benefit Ryman Arts and the DFC. It was a wonderful evening with great food, entertainment and lots of stories and information. If you have never seen or haven't seen The Happiest Millionaire in a while, check it out. It will also explain the alligators! 

The next meal event on Monday afternoon was a celebration of Don DeFore's Silver Banjo BBQ restaurant in Frontierland. We all walked away with and awesome Silver Banjo BBQ pin. (And we have an extra we'll be giving away at the Luau in June.)

The table decorations were wonderful as usual.

More decorations.

The Silver Banjo BBQ Restaurant was located between the current Riverbelle Terrace and Stage Door Cafe. The entrance is still there but is now used for storage.

The food, THE FOOD!! It was fantastic. They recreated the BBQ sauce used at the restaurant. If you had ever eaten at Loves BBQ (unfortunately now long gone too) you would recognize the sauce--very similar. Selections included baked beans, coleslaw, BBQ ribs and chicken, mini BBQ pulled pork sliders and an assortment of desserts. 

We started off the presentation by hearing from author Marcy Smothers who has a new cookbook coming out called 'Eat Like Walt' which contains many Disney related recipes including the BBQ sauce used at The Silver Banjo. (It's available for pre-order from Amazon if you are interested) Brothers Ron and David DeFore then took the stage and talked about the restaurant, its history and some of their adventures spending many days in Disneyland all accompanied by numerous photos. If you ever get a chance to see their presentation its well worth your time. A big thank you to all the DFC board members and volunteers who provided a very enjoyable weekend!