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The Fisher-Price
Collectors Club first formed in 1993, as a way to
bring together people who love the toys of the Fisher-Price Company. The primary goal of the
club is to preserve, protect and promote Fisher-Price toys, and to create
lifelong friendships. Many club members
have friendships going back over 30 years now! The club is going strong with many dedicated
officers and board members. We also maintain direct ties with employees and former
employees of Fisher-Price, so we can preserve and record their knowledge for future generations.
The Fisher-Price Collectors Club is a registered non-profit organization 501(c)(3). We have 5 officers plus 8-10 members on the board, all volunteers.
We hold an annual convention where club members can get together and chat, create friendships and
of course, hear all about what awesome toys are in everyone's collections! As a non-profit, we also
donate money to support local charities in need. We send a newsletter 3 times a year
with personal stories about toy collecting, Fisher-Price history, club news and more! So read on down to
see what the club is all about!
Club History
Who's In The Club (A Look at our Demographics)
Our Missions and Goals
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It was the worst of times, yet the best of times. The officers, board members and convention planners of the
Fisher-Price Collectors Club met for the first time in 2 years after COVID began.
East Aurora NY, July 2021
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Club's Beginning: The Fisher-Price Collectors Club first began in the year
1993. The club was started by our founder, Jeanne, who had a vision to connect together people who
shared a love for Fisher-Price toys. The club is a not-for-profit entity, and
we have official permission from the Fisher-Price toy company to exist and use the Fisher-Price
name. Since this was pre-Internet, the club was an invaluable way for collectors to meet other
collectors, and make connections to finding those specific toys that were eluding our collections!
Since 1993, the club has grown considerably from the early days! Our club's activities have
included newsletters (sent 3 times a year), plus online activities (primarily
Facebook groups), plus
a yearly convention to bring club members together in person. Our convention is always centered in
East Aurora, NY. So why East Aurora? It's the home of the Fisher-Price Company, of course!
Check any older (1980's or before) toy made by Fisher-Price, and
you almost always could find "East Aurora, NY" displayed on it somewhere!
Toyfest Years:
Up until 2007, our convention coincided with an annual
event called Toyfest, which took place during the last full weekend in August in East Aurora, NY.
Toyfest was a weekend-long festival that celebrated the town's toy history.
Toyfest had everything a
town-wide fair would have: carnival rides; a parade; races; antique car show; food and vendors;
activities for kids; special Fisher-Price replica toys made just for the event; and our favorite -
an antique toy show and sale! This sale was held at the East Aurora Middle School's cafeteria, with the
entire room filled with usually 30 vendors selling Fisher-Price toys. It was quite an amazing site!
The club would also hold a swap meet between members which was a great way to find that one piece someone was missing!
Having the convention during Toyfest made it the perfect time for
our club to hold our convention. Many of our club members have very special memories of this time.
Post-Toyfest Years: Well sadly, primarily due to financial reasons and lack of manpower, East Aurora discontinued Toyfest entirely.
2007 was the last year Toyfest was held. Everyone was shocked and disheartened. This left
the club's convention and toy sale in limbo. In 2010, the club decided to plan the convention
during a different weekend in East Aurora, called Reunion Weekend. This weekend is usually held the
last full weekend in July, and it brings thousands of
people to East Aurora for reunions and community events. The
East Aurora Chamber of Commerce holds their annual
Street and Sidewalk Sale that weekend, and the club holds their annual sale as part of this larger event.
And ever since (as of this writing in 2024)
this last weekend in July has been our "home" for our conventions, and we love it! So many thanks to the
East Aurora Chamber of Commerce and the Blazing Star Masonic Lodge for hosting the events!
COVID Years and Beyond: Like almost everywhere in 2020, COVID threw the club into a loop when it struck. Due to New
York's strict COVID restrictions, we had no convention in 2020. We had no events, and extended everyone's
membership for another year, hoping things would get better. Into the first half of 2021, New York still had
no-large-gathering restrictions in effect so the club once again cancelled our convention for 2021. But in early June,
New York suddenly lifted enough restrictions so our convention and sale were now possible. Our board
and officers got to work quickly, booking our dinner and sale, and made the July 2021 convention happen! It was
absolutely wonderful to see everyone and we could reboot the club. As of this writing (2024), club membership
has grown, we are busy planning our next convention, and we are thrilled to be back in action!
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Our club has many members through the years, and as of this
writing, the number of members is growing! Thanks to social media, people who love Fisher-Price toys are
coming together more than ever! So who are the members of the Fisher-Price Collectors Club? We will give
you a little glimpse into the demographics of our members!
OUR CORE: We have some members who have been with the club since the very beginning (1993!) and
quite a few hitting the 20+ year mark now, even 30+ years now too! Plus we have very dedicated newer members as well.
These members are
hard-working and volunteer many hours throughout
the year in their duties as officers and board members. To writing
the newsletter, processing new memberships and membership renewals, planning our convention and sale, social
media and website maintenance, marketing and promotion - they make the club happen!
Little People Collectors: Far and away, members of the Fisher-Price Collectors Club collect
the classic Little People toys the most. These iconic toys have brought joy to children for decades, and
just spread happiness whenever you look at them. The Little People most collected are the ones made before
1990 (see our Little People Page for more info on different eras of Little People).
We have members who literally have every single set in the original box!! We have members who have huge collections
of Little People sets beautifully displayed in their homes, taking up entire rooms and basements, and even barns!
We have members who love Little People sets and just own the ones they like the most. A growing segment of
our membership are grandparents looking to get classic Little People sets for their grandchildren to share the
joy with the newest generation!
Older/Wooden Pull Toy Collectors: The wooden toy collectors are a dedicated bunch in our
membership. Fisher-Price's earliest toys (going back to 1931!) were made of
wood, and a majority were pull toys - basically a child would pull the toy on a string, and the toy would make motions or
sounds as it moved. These collectors love the oldest toys and do lots of searching to find the toys they don't already
have! Many members have magnificent displays of these older wooden toys. These types of wooden toys were produced
up until around the late 1960's/1970's; plastics took over by the 1980's.
People Who Love Fun, Colorful and Happy Toys: We have many members who just love the happiness Fisher-Price toys
bring, and collect whatever catches their eye! The plastic pull toys, Fun with Food sets, boxed sets with great graphics,
games, puzzles, Muppets - if it's happy and brings a smile, they want one in their collection, or one for the
kids or grandkids to play with! We have members who create amazing crafts and custom works with Fisher-Price toys, like
Christmas ornaments, original paintings, lamps made out of toys, and repainting damaged Little People into new custom ones (like Elmo,
since he was never made in the Fisher-Price Sesame Street sets since he wasn't introduced yet!).
Adventure People Collectors: The club has been picking up more Adventure People collectors in
recent years. Adventure People were a line of toys made in the 1970's/1980's that feature 3-inch action figures
with equipment and vehicles. Most Adventure People collectors had some when they were young and now they want them back!
Some Adventure People sets are hugely sought after. Some of the club's dedicated Adventure People collectors helped write
our own Adventure People guide which you can find here. Adventure People have
definitely been hot in recent years!
And More: The club has collectors for so many different lines of toys besides the wooden pull toys and
Little People. We have some members who collect mainly wind-ups and musical toys. We have some who collect
the dollhouses and dolls. We have members who collect Husky Helpers and Imaginext. We have a few (not many, but a few)
who collect the newer Little People sets (post 1989). We even have chatterphone collectors! We have some who
mainly collect toys in original boxes. We have many members who have Fisher-Price prototypes and employee exclusives
in their collections. And just about everyone winds up with a few Toyfest toys in their collections at some point!
So for most lines of older Fisher-Price toys, we probably have a club member who collects it!
Demographics: Our club members span the generations! We have members in their 90's all the way down
to children with their own memberships! Many of our members are either grandparents or had Fisher-Price toys
when they were little. We have many married couples in the club. We have whole families where parents, kids and now
grandkids all have their own memberships! Geographically, we have members all over the USA and Canada, plus
a few international ones as well! A majority of our members live in the central or
eastern USA or Canada (which makes sense since Fisher-Price toys were produced in those regions) but we have
members from coast to coast. We trend on the female side but there are plenty of menfolk too!
The members of the Fisher-Price Collectors Club are
people who love Fisher-Price toys and the joy they bring. Some of us have huge collections and some of us have
tiny ones. Some of us currently have big displays of toys, and some have downsized and moved on, but stayed in the club for the friendships.
The club brings us all together to socialize and create long-lasting friendships, which is what matters most! If you
are interested in joining the club, visit our Join The Club page for more info!
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Mission, Goals, and What We Do:
The Fisher-Price Collectors Club is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the caring, sharing and
preservation of Fisher-Price toys. We were organized in 1993 and incorporated in Arizona in 1994. We received
notification from the Internal Revenue Service that effective since 1994, The Fisher-Price Collectors Club is
recognized as a not-for-profit company under the Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). As such, contributions
made to the Fisher-Price Collectors Club are deductible as charitable contributions. Membership fees are not
charitable contributions. Members elect the Board of Directors.
We aim to give our members a venue to meet and talk with
others who enjoy Fisher-Price toys; we are not only some online Facebook group - we are real people who
get together in real life! Besides our club activities (newsletters, convention, social hours, plus other events),
we also raise money and use proceeds from toy donations and sales to support
various children charities. One charity is Hunter's Hope,
which is raising
awareness and looking for a cure for Crabbe's Disease, which took the life of Hunter, the son of
the Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly. We also have donated to local Make-A-Wish organizations, to
grant wishes to terminally ill children. Some other organizations that the club supported included a local charity
providing for flood relief; an organization providing lunches for at-risk children on weekends; plus charities supporting
local veterans groups.
A growing urgency in our club is the preservation of knowledge of the production of Fisher-Price toys. The club
has been actively recording (on video and in writing) the stories told by retired Fisher-Price employees, especially
those who worked in the 1960's to 1980's. Many of these employees are up there in age now, and we aim to preserve
their knowledge so it can be shared with generations to come. Some of the stories they share are very precious: one
employee who was on the assembly line producing the Fisher-Price Corn Poppers told us how he had to painstakingly add the exact
correct number of each colored ball - it certainly couldn't be random!
So there you have it - we are the Fisher-Price Collectors Club, 30+ years now and going strong!
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