Resident Enters Oreo Tribute at Puyallup Fair to Honor Father's Sweet Tooth

Located in the middle of the Hobby Hall at the Puyallup Fair, Mercer Island resident Carol Webster's collection of memorabilia dedicated to the Oreo cookie says a lot about what it takes to become — according to several slogans in the case — "America's Favorite Cookie".

This year, according to a New York Times article posted in the display, marks the 100th anniversary of the National Biscuit Company's (better known as Nabisco) pairing of two chocolate wafers and a creme-center, known today as the Oreo (a second flavor, lemon meringue, was discontinued in the 1920s).

Also inside the display, there's the Dale Earnhardt's Oreo-sponsored NASCAR #3 car and cap replicas, an Oreo-themed Barbie, and even a cigarette lighter in the shape of the cookie, complete with a creme-colored layer in the middle. And of course, tins, jars, posters and slogans all attesting to the cookie's allure as the perfect partner for a cool, tall glass of milk.  

Webster, 55, has been taking her children to the fair for years and always made a point of stopping by the Hobby Hall, and always imagined the Oreo cookie memorabilia would be an interesting attraction as an exhibit.

"I've dragged them through the Hobby Hall for years and told them I'd show our Oreo collection someday," she said. "I always liked the collections and found them really interesting."

Her friends cheered her and the Oreo collection on. Janet Morse, a friend of Webster's for over 20 years, said the book club they both belong to made a special trip down to see the exhibit. 

"She has been talking about putting her collection in Hobby Hall since her daughter was very young," she said. "She decided that this was her last chance."

The First Hill mother of three (her oldest is a senior at Mercer Island High School), Webster said the unusual collection dedicated to a cookie got its start thanks to her father's sweet-tooth.

Growing up in North Seattle in the 60s and 70s, she said when friends and family called on her father, Bob Knudson, they usually brought a package or two of Oreos. 

"When I was growing up, whenever we saw something Oreo-cookie themed we would always buy him that," Webster said. "People always remembered that. He's a great dad."

She recalled buying several items in the display herself, including a large cookie jar for about $3.

"It seemed to be the main staple of his diet," Webster said, half-joking. "When we were little, we always called them 'Daddy Cookies'."

Over the years, she inherited the collection from her parents but never forgot how much the seemingly commercial trinkets meant to her father. Now 84 and suffering memory loss, Webster brought her parents to Puyallup see the exhibit as a tribute to her father — hoping he'd remember it and the people who helped build the Oreo-themed collection.

"It's a an honor to him, a tribute to my did if in fact we could actually show it in the fair," she said. "It was now or never."