Mark your calendars for Feb. 3-5, for the 31st Gateway Mid America Toy Show. This annual farm toy show has been a landmark event for collectors for three decades.

Scheduled for the Sheraton Lakeside Chalet in St. Louis, Mo.’s, Westport Plaza, the three-day event offers what is new and different in the farm toy scene. The exhibitor spaces open on Friday, Feb. 3, at 10 a.m. and run until 6 p.m.

Many farm toys will be set up in hotel rooms, in addition to exhibitor spaces. Rooms 101-350 will be open and should an exhibitor choose, there may be (and usually is) room trading after 6 p.m., when the main space closes.

For those who have never participated in the room-to-room trading, it is a new experience to see how each dealer has set up his or her own space. The farm toys come in a variety, from the newer and less expensive to those collected from the early 1950s or even earlier. There are original toys created by toy modelers or toys that have been adapted or customized.

Farm toys come in 1/16th and the smaller 1/64th-scale and, occasionally, a collector may see the more unusual 1/32nd-scale. Dealers also have old and new toys that are restored, pedal tractors and other toy-related items.

Some rooms will be filled with all of one brand, perhaps with an International Harvester, John Deere or Massey Harris emphasis, or a mixture of brands. Farm trucks are also big at the Gateway show.

There are collectors who focus non-farm items such as NASCAR or Hot Wheels. There are also dealers who concentrate on literature and memorabilia created by a company over the years.

Unlike the stock market, which has been up and down in these economic times, farm toys seem to have held their value. People may spend less money on toys than in the past, but if attendance and comments from the vendors at the National Farm Toy Show held in Dyersville, Iowa, the first weekend in November are on spot, the buying trend is better.

As for the vendors and attendees at this longstanding show, many have been coming for years and visit back and forth like family. Many a friendship has been established over the purchase or trading of a treasured farm toy.

Roy Lee Baker is a member of the National Farm Toy Hall of Fame and he, along with his wife, Audrey, and children Darrell Baker and Faye Baker Knoche host the farm toy show. Roy Lee said what most collectors say is their favorite part of this annual event: “We enjoy seeing the people every year.”

That Saturday offers both model and farm layout contests. “We have our model show on Saturday all day long. People bring barns, farm scenes and make their own toys,” Roy Lee explained. “We have 150 trading rooms and probably that many vendors in the exhibit and board room areas. We take up the whole hotel.”

For those not familiar with the terms for the model contest, the judging will be for two categories: scratch-built and customized. The definition of a scratch-built is a toy started from scratch (no manufactured toy start). The definition of customized for this show is that the model was started with a manufactured toy, with additional features added.

Saturday is also the day of the popular farm toy consignment auction. Mark Krause is the auctioneer and it begins at 9 a.m.; however, viewing of auction items is at 7 a.m. As of the end of January there were already 450-plus collectible farm toys and related merchandize lined up for the sale.

The show began in 1981 and has grown to be one of the largest farm toy shows in the United States. Check it out!

The Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel is located at 191 Westport Plaza Dr., St. Louis, MO. Admission is $5 for adults; children 11 and under are free. For more information, log onto http://gateway toyshow.com/gatewaytoyshowhome/ new%20contact%20us.htm

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.