Cabbage Patch fever whips area shoppers into frenzy

Oct 04, 2008 (The Citizens' Voice - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- HD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- It's hard to believe something as cute as a Cabbage Patch Kid could incite a riot.

But on one Sunday morning in November 1983, more than 2,000 people punched, kicked and fought to get their hands on one of the round-faced, yarn-haired dolls, the year's most-coveted Christmas present, at Zayre's Department Store in Wilkes-Barre.

"It was really crazy," said Pat Benner of Hanover Township, who was there to buy dolls for her three daughters. "You didn't have to walk through the door, you just sort of got carried in with the crowd."

People began arriving shortly after midnight on Nov. 27, 1983, at Zayre's in the shopping complex on Spring Street, now home to Raymour & Flanagan Furniture and Home Depot, after it was announced the store would have 250 Cabbage Patch Kids available. Once the store opened at 9 a.m., it was a free-for-all as shoppers shoved their way to the counter to claim their dolls.

Several people were knocked down, punched or almost trampled in the melee. One unnamed woman chased a man through the parking lot, "calling him an S.O.B.," The Citizens' Voice reported the next day.

The Cabbage Patch Kid riot at Zayre's was just one of many across the country that year. Parents would do anything to get the must-have toy that Christmas season, including fighting crowds in department stores and buying "black-market" Cabbage Patch Kids in parking lots.

Benner and her sister, Joan Gill, had heard Cabbage Patch Kids would be available at Zayre's the day before, while they were on a bus trip. "My sister and I never even realized there was some type of craze for those things," Benner said.

Newspaper accounts of the incident described the riot in detail. A pregnant woman bit another patron and knocked his hat off while trying to purchase a doll; another woman was punched in the face by a female shopper.

One woman later sued Zayre's, claiming she was punched and kicked when store employees threw the dolls into the crowd, inciting the customers into a frenzy.

"The people were fanatical ... It's hard to describe what went on here. Some of the customers acted like animals," said assistant store manager William Shigo when he was interviewed that day. "I can't believe people would act this way over a doll."

Benner and her sister didn't get hurt and were able to get the three dolls they needed that day at Zayre's.

"We were one of the lucky ones who got out fast," she said.

Cabbage Patch Kids were invented by Xavier Roberts in 1978, the same year Babyland General Hospital, a nursery and adoption center for the dolls, opened to the public in Cleveland, Ga. The dolls were first mass-produced by Coleco in 1982 and more than 3 million were sold nationwide in 1983.

One key to the dolls' success is that no two Cabbage Patch Kids are exactly alike, according to Margaret McLean, director of corporate communications at Babyland General Hospital.

"Each one has its own individuality," she said. "(People) would actually go on hunts, looking for something very specific."

The dolls were on sale for $17.99 at Zayre's in 1983. Now, as the 25th anniversary approaches, a limited anniversary edition doll sells for $39.99 on the Internet.

The Cabbage Patch Kids' popularity has remained steady. Children who received the dolls in the 1980s are now buying them for their offspring.

Benner said she bought a Cabbage Patch Kid for her 2-year-old granddaughter, Holland, last Christmas. She still has the dolls she bought for her daughters, and her family talks about the riot at Zayre's, especially on Black Fridays, the busiest shopping day of the Christmas season.

She recalls saying that day in 1983 that parents will do anything for their kids.

"I'm still doing it," she laughed.

kgaydos@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2118

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