ALMA – Nick Grose was determined to keep the Alma Optimist Toy Show and Sale running when John and Helen Broadfoot announced they would be stepping back.
If this past Sunday at the Alma Community Hall was any indication, he did just that.
The show began as a fundraiser for the Elora Optimist Club before being relocated to the Alma Community Centre around a decade ago.
This year marked the first community event hosted at the hall since 2020.
Creators and collectors both young and old dusted off their toys and crowded around tables stacked with rows upon rows of diecast, plastic moulded and 3D-printed cars, trucks and tractors – with a heavy emphasis on the tractors.
“Not everybody can have 50 full-size real tractors, but you can line up a shelf in your office and say, ‘these are the favourite tractors I wish I had,’” Grose said.
Life-like models ranged in the hundreds of dollars while smaller, generic models were priced as low as a few dollars.
Wearing a Dwayne’s Lawncare ballcap, Dwayne Vanravenswaay said he spends hours finessing his custom, 3D-printed balewrappers, spreaders, grain trailers and fertilizer spreaders.
Dwayne Vanravenswaay, right, speaks with other vendors. Photo by Jordan Snobelen
“There’s probably about six hours at least into [each of] them,” Vanravenswaay said, pointing at a set of tractor-trailers he had displayed.
And another three to four hours have gone into his Tubeline-branded balewrappers, complete with roller bars.
He’s even laser-engraved some of his creations, cutting branded logos and tail lights before they’re painted.
“It’s been a fun little hobby, it’s stressful at times because you don’t know how much time you put into something if it’s going to be profitable at the end,” the farmer and trucker said.
But after being cooped up for the past two years, Vanravenswaay said he was happy to get out and socialize.
It’s only the third show he’s done and he racked up sales along with a lengthy list of inquiries from those interested in custom models.
“Even if you don’t sell a single thing, it’s still worth your time because you’re meeting new people,” he said.
Photo by Jordan Snobelen
Funds raised from admission and food sales from local Girl Guides are being donated to the Girl Guides and the Waterloo-Wellington Science Fair.
Any remaining dollars will go back into the Optimist’s summer swim program and community events, Grose said.
Sunday was the long-time club member’s first time behind the wheel, but it certainly wasn’t his first participating.
A lifelong toy collector, he’s sold collectibles at the show for the past decade and has amassed a personal collection of over 2,000 items.
Over the years Grose has noticed accessibility, affordability and quality have all increased with the advancement of technology like home 3D printing.
“In the early years, a lot of the toys were very non-detailed, sand-cast models,” he explained.
“Toys were very hard to get at high detail, so to get a nicely detailed toy of a very common tractor it would be hundreds of dollars, now the same tractor is less than $100 for a nice, detailed model.”
Upwards of 450 adults in addition to children came out to see the displays, some featuring large-scale replications of locally-manufactured Husky farm equipment.
“It’s enjoyed by so many people throughout the community and people from all over the area come to our community, which is a great thing,” Grose said, adding the event had gone “swimmingly.”
