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Gaylord Herald Times ,National Farm Toy Show – Today starts the Annual National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville , Iowa. For 9 years Deb and I spent our Anniversary in Iowa camping in our motorhome at the Beckman High School. Our Anniversary was always the same week of the toy show . We have a lot of fun memories of Iowa and Deb says she remembers most the strong smell of pigs in Iowa. There really was a lot of pig farms around that area and it did have a bit of a odor so she was right about that, ha,ha. This was the first time I ever took my handbuilt toys to a toy show so I was nervous how people at the National Toy Show would accept me. I knew nothing about toy shows or entering contests. A few people told me to sign up to enter the contest instead of just displaying the models for fun. So I did and the judges came and sit and watched us interact with the people all weekend and counted how many times we left the display and how well we answered questions that the huindreds of people were asking us . Deb and I thought it was a little strange they even kept track of how many bathroom breaks we took , but we could not leave at the same time. So it was actually kind of funny they took this toy displaying so serious. I had brought around 30 hand built models like combines, potato harvesters, grain carts, loaders, mowers, snowblower, snowblades, posthole digger, etc. On Sat. the judges and Claire who was the owner of the Toy Farmer Magazine walked in my room and walked up to me and said Congratualtions !! I was very caught off guard and so surprised !! Claire could see a couple tears in my eyes and I could see it effected him as he even teared up seeing me so moved. The room was full of people and i was a little embarrased I was almost ready to cry. Even as emotional as i was I had no idea how big of a deal this was. I found out later many people have tried to win first place at the National for over 25 years and never won. In fact one fellow was very upset I won and he told me so . But everyone else was very happy for me and that was very cool. We set up a table for the next 7 years but no more competing . We did not like that part of it. It has been about 8 years since we have been to Dyersville and we always talk about going back just to enjoy the show. I also have two models in the National Farm Toy Museum and that is pretty cool. We get e-mails from people we met at Dyersville from time to time.
The very first visit to the toy show as a spectator was on our 25th anniversary and a lady reporter/writer did a story about us coming to Iowa for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. That nice lady was Debbie Behne and we told her we were going to come back the following year and display some handmade toys. That is how it all started. Out of the hundreds of great people we met over the years Debbie Behne and Debbie Campbell hit it off and became the best of friends. They continue to e-mail each other every single week all these years later. Debbie Behne also writes for Green Magazine and a few other farm related magazines. Today Debbie Behne and her family are on their way to Dyersville to the show. One of these days we are going back and we will enjoy the show one last time as spectators and see my models in the museum one last time.
Have a great Friday
