BIG CITY GETAWAY

TOYSINTHE ATTIC – THE VERMONT TOY MUSEUM words + images: Dan Bisbee

Have you ever seen someone’s toy collection and wished you could make it your own? If so, there’s a place in Quechee Vermont that could make your dreams come true. Quechee is rightfully famous for Quechee Gorge. At 165 feet deep, it’s worth a visit. But today I’m stopping just down the road inside the Quechee Antique Mall. In the back of the general store a sign beckons me upstairs. It simply reads “Toy Museum.”

Remember that toy you got when you were six? How about the lunchbox you brought to grade school? Your rst video game? It’s probably on display here. I eagerly climb the stairs, drop a donation in the bucket, and enter the Vermont Toy Museum.

Just inside the entrance is a series of cases with toys displayed by decade. The rst item that catches my eye in the 1950s display is a pair of Satellite Jumping Shoes. I used to have a pair of those. They laced on over your regular shoes and, with 3-inch springs on the soles, you could jump really high. My big brother convinced six-year-old me I could jump to the ceiling and I excitedly put them on. I bounced once before sprawling face down on the oor, bursting into tears, much to my brother’s delight. There are a few less traumatic memories in the case as well with an Etch-A-Sketch and a Magic 8-Ball. The next case is packed with toys of the 1960s including Rock’em-Sock’em Robots, Mr. Machine and a selection of Barbie dolls. Moving along, the 1970s case represents the decade with Six Million Dollar Man gurines, Dorothy Hamel and Charlie’s Angels themed toys. The 1980s includes Ninja Turtles, Rubik’s Cube and Cabbage Patch dolls. The Simpsons and Where’s Waldo represent part of the 1990s collection.

Lunch boxes have their own aisle: there are over 1100 of them. Another aisle is lined with board games based on television shows: Starsky and Hutch, Barney Miller, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Crackerjack toys are featured along another wall and fast-food kids’ meal toys line another aisle.

Video games and consoles occupy one complete alcove. Atari? Absolutely. Nintendo? Naturally. Even a Sega Dreamcast. But how

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Page 16 about the Magnavox Odyssey 200 released in 1972? Or the Hasbro Mark 106 computer from 1968? There is even a TRS-80 Color Computer like I used to have.

Science Fiction fans will rejoice at a huge line up of robots staring out from a wall. Ray guns and vintage planetary rovers occupy other displays. Star Wars and Star Trek each have their own dedicated cabinets.

I purposely seek out motorcycle toys and I’m not disappointed. A couple of early cast iron bikes are on display as well as some more modern plastic ones. The “Fonz” is giving me the thumbs up from his Triumph on a lunch box – he’s between Laura Croft Tomb Raider and Dick Tracy. Evel Knievel has his own lunch box too. Evel is on full display with his Road and Trail Adventure set as well as his “Scramble Van.” Several other motorcycle toys are scattered throughout the museum.

You couldn’t call it a toy museum without model trains and a huge layout dominates the center of the space. Drop a quarter in the slot and the trains move through simulated Vermont towns, into and out of tunnels. I dumped a pocketful of quarters just to watch the trains – much to the delight of some kids.

If you’re a Baby Boomer or a Gen-Xer, this museum is for you. It seems like every thirty seconds I found myself saying “I used to have that” and I wondered who had put together such a phenomenal collection. His name is Gary Neil and he was inspired by a visit to the Toy Museum in Nuremberg, Germany. While that museum traces 600 years-worth of toys, Gary was intrigued by the section of the museum where toys were displayed by decade and based his own museum on that. With toys covering the walls and ceiling, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of toys but Gary has done a great job in providing an overview of everything. You won’t nd a lot of Disney toys or Legos but they are there. He tries to t a representative from many genres. The collection on display seems to end around the year 2000, not for a lack of toys, but for a lack of space.

Toys come to the museum in a variety of ways: yard sales are always a good source. Some he buys new but many pieces come from older collectors who want a caretaker for their personal collections. The back room, where Gary cleans and inventories new toys, is also approaching capacity. There are many toys that he simply has no space to showcase. Figurines from The Incredibles and South Park stand on a desk in the back room simply because there is no room to exhibit them properly.

As mentioned earlier, all this could be yours! Gary has been running this museum for most of his adult life and collecting even longer and now it’s time for someone else to become caretaker of this phenomenal collection. His lease at the Vermont Antique Mall expires in late 2023 and he is hoping to nd someone with a similar passion to take over the collection and bring it to the next level. If he can’t nd someone to take it over, he may end up selling it off piecemeal and that would be a shame. If you are interested in acquiring the contents of the museum, or know someone who is, please contact Gary at the number or email address below.

At the very least, you should plan a trip to the Toy Museum for 2023. It’s just a short 75 miles from the Gray Ghost Inn or the Kitzhof Inn in West Dover, VT. The toys will put a smile on your face, make you do a happy dance, and possibly even jump for joy. Just don’t do it while wearing the Satellite Jumping Shoes. ,