Hippity Hop...but not at that stop... these velveteen bunnies were mistaken for Douglas' bunnies that turned up missing after the Winnsboro Christmas parade.

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WINNSBORO — There has been a case of mistaken identity in the missing velveteen bunnies and teddy bears in Winnsboro.

The stuffed animals that were donated to the public by an anonymous donor in fact were not the stuffed animals that Winnsboro resident Amy Douglas noticed were missing after the Winnsboro Christmas parade.

Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce President Terry Vickers called Douglas to clear up the misunderstanding.

It was Vickers who placed the donated stuffed animals on the park bench with a sign for persons who could not afford Christmas gifts to take the bears and rabbits to distribute as they saw fit.

According to Vickers, the stuffed animals were donated by Patsy Edenfield, Bonnie Myers and Beth Holt at a yard sale they held prior to Christmas.

“The Edenfields held a yard sale and sold (various goods and sundries) from the upholstery shop that was in South Winnsboro,” Vickers said.

While browsing the yard sale, Vickers noticed the stuffed animals and offered to buy them and then donate them to charity, but once the yard sale organizers heard her wishes, they donated the animals in hopes of making someone’s Christmas a little brighter this year.

Douglas understood, when she was contacted later on Friday about the animal mix-up.

She remembered growing up around Florence Short, whom she called “the icon of South Winnsboro.”

“I have no doubt that she had the velveteen rabbits also,” Douglas said. “She was a well respected community member who did a lot for South Winnsboro.”

That said, the recipients of the donated rabbits can rest easy, knowing that the gifts were not, in fact, the keepsakes that the Douglas family wound up losing after loaning them for the 4-H float in the Christmas parade.

Douglas hopes that the warmth embodied in the tale of the velveteen rabbit, a character in a children’s book that is a rabbit who loves a child so much it eventually becomes real, will inspire someone who has the lovable stuffed animals to return them to their rightful owners.

If anyone has seen the other set of velveteen rabbits or anniversary bears that in fact are the Douglas’ missing crew, call Amy Douglas at 815-0688.