SEQUIM — Collectors, kids and those looking for lost childhood treasures will convene Saturday at Carrie Blake Community Park for the second Olympic Peninsula Toy and Collectibles Show.
The free event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Guy Cole Event Center, 144 N. Blake Ave., with at least 20 vendors selling vintage and new toys, action figures, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and more.
Organizer Corey Edwards said the show’s origin follows the success of the first Sequim Record Show last year after he thought to himself, “Why can’t we do this for toys here?”
He said he was happy with how the first show went, and he said most vendors are returning from last year along with some newcomers.
If tables are still available, vendor registration can be found at peninsulatoyshow.com.
Edwards was planning to do a second show in the spring before he received a serious medical diagnosis late last year.
He’s been waiting for the all clear, which he got in the spring before moving forward with the September show.
“Some people who come to shows like these live and breathe toys,” he said.
Last year, Edwards saw several toys strike a nostalgic nerve for people who did a double-take when they walked by different tables.
“It’s something you have forgotten about until you see the package or doll’s face and you find the child still inside,” he said.
Edwards said he found a love for toys again in the 1990s when his brother wanted to go into a Toys”R”Us. He was reluctant, but when he went in, he saw a toy — Zombie Spawn — that he thought looked cool and reminded him of “Doom,” a video game he often played.
That led him to search for toys online he enjoyed as a child, and he met fellow collectors and toy makers in forums. Many become friends for life.
Edwards admitted he’s an eclectic collector, with tastes ranging from die-cast monsters from the 1970s and ’80s to Japanese robots to larger Kaiju (strange or giant monsters).
“I like things that are more weird, out of the ordinary,” he said.
Edwards said he remembers enjoying and starting to collect toy skulls and knights and suits of armor after seeing “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, too.
In recent years, he’s focused his collecting on more affordable toys, such as Hot Wheels, and models that he finds to be more fun.
To follow the show and local collectors, visit facebook.com/groups/peninsulatoyshow.
