The Gateway Mid-America Toy Show took place Feb. 2-4, 2023. This was the 41st year, making this one of the longest running farm toy shows around. The show had a large crowd with numbers of around 2,000 people in attendance. Kevin Collins, a vendor who along with his wife Nancy deals with literature, and memorabilia, said that they have noticed an uptick in sales this year. “People are buying everything during an almost recession, I wouldn’t believe it,” he said.

Kevin noted that brands that he hasn’t sold in a while like DeLaval and Funks Seed have come back strong this year. “People are looking for different things,” he added. With auctions going online, and everyone coming out of the pandemic he thought everyone is ready to get out.

The Gateway show is one where collectors were able to attend a live auction. A few of the auction highlights sold by auctioneer Dennis Aumann and his team out of Ohlman, Ill., were a John Deere 4430 toy w/ cab WF 1/8 scale, an International Harvester 886 1/16th scale, and a Toy Farmer Big Bud 900 HP to name a few. Aumann said, “The auction went well. We were also set up in our room.”

Aumann said it is hard to say what something will bring, but he mentioned one example where a gentleman bought a four-piece farm set up from the 1960s and brought it to the auction a couple years ago. “He gave $24.95 for it and brought one of them. That morning he sold one, and a bidder gave $7,200 for it. On Friday morning, he brought the other one in and set it down and said he hoped for more for this one.”

Aumann said he really didn’t know how much it would bring. The toy did well, it sold for $9,300. The only items that he didn’t think did as well were some trucks because, he said, “This is primarily a farm toy auction.”

Vendors said toy prices are up. Vendor brothers Dan and Doyle Case were set up in a room. Doyle Case explained that toy brands like Nylint RV’s, plastic toys and other farm toy variations are selling well. “People are expanding and paying more,” he said.

Part of the draw that brings in the crowd is the sheer joy of visiting. “My dad would come to this show just to talk farming,” Doyle Case reminisced.

Not all vendors were selling just farm toys, literature and memorabilia. Patsy Gustafson hit a great niche with her themed potholders and jar openers. Even John Deere and IH and other collectors get arthritis and sometimes need help opening a jar or two.

Warren Knutson found a neat toy with his Shell Service Station, then located a companion piece with a boxed Texaco Station set. “Shell gave away hot wheels in the early 1970s,” this toy car collector said. “I found this at a flea market, then saw the Texaco game in a room.”

More trends in the farm toy business were highlighted at the end of the day at the Toy Talk Round Table. Moderator Dale Bernard put questions to farm toy modelers of different ages who create different types of toys. The toy modelers were set up at a table. Situated from left to right were Jason Shireman, Garret Mauch, Sidney Sylvester, Seth Eberhart, Rick Conner and Curt Eberhart.

The first question was how the modelers got started in the farm toy hobby and business. Shireman said that he started out “carpet farming” as a kid and at an early age started customizing. Mauch played with sandbox toys and used the internet and Facebook and really got involved once out of college. Sylvester, who is just a high school senior, said he had farm toys and got into the hobby from his brother. He is into puller toys and creates 3D printed toys and makes four to five different varieties. Seth Eberhart is a second-generation collector. His father Curt got him into the hobby, he creates displays. Conner began in 1981 reassembling toys he had when he was young. Curt Eberhart said, “I was poor and didn’t get what I wanted so I started collecting.”

When asked what they wanted in the future from the farm toy manufacturers, answers varied widely, from those hoping for more detailing to those hoping for more non-grain options to more pullers and four-wheel drive machines. The big question of the day that Bernard asked was, “What do you see as the future of the hobby?”

Everyone wondered if 3D would cause controversy or be embraced. When the dust settled, the answer was that all the different methods are unique, and don’t really compare but offer their own special opportunities. Some of the takeaways though were that 3D printing has made many models more affordable and brought in a younger crowd. Shireman predicted that a whole new aspect, Virtual reality will come on the scene sometime soon.

Mauch was amazed by what the youth can do and said that how to videos and 3D details are responsible for a lot of the creativity out there. “Without 3D, I’d just be a collector. Now, if there is something you want, there is no reason you can’t have it.”

Sylvester also said he would not be in the hobby if not for 3D. He predicts the melding of powder, laser and metal together to provide, “higher detail at lower cost.”

Seth Eberhart really wrapped it up by saying, “3D and scratch building, they are all separate. I wish I could do that, but they are two different things. 3D doesn’t hurt, it’s different, it pushes scratch builders to build to new levels.”

Chuck Steffens, a builder who was in the audience, added in that the 3D is also causing competition among the farm toy manufacturers and this push is also coming from the laser cutting and CNC machine talent as well. Everyone is stepping up their game with the new and upcoming technologies.

One look at the farm layouts at the toy show and it was clear that the layouts and creativity are at a high level of talent. The annual model and display contest brought contestants from Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, Arkansas, Michigan, Kansas, and Kentucky. One young man came back to enter a layout contest after having been absent for 15 years. The hobby keeps drawing individuals back year after year even though the hobby changes and rearranges over time.