“This is our ninth season, next year will be our 10-year anniversary, and it just keeps growing and growing,” said organizer Rob Eldridge, owner of Route 68 Toys in Xenia. “There’s something here for everyone, something for the kids, and something for the big kids.”
All seven buildings at the expo center, located at 120 Fairground Road in Xenia, will be packed with toys of all kinds, with roughly 400 vendors, some coming from as far as England, Japan, Germany and Argentina.
The event also features 10 different food trucks, a live DJ, games, Pokémon and sports collectors cards, board games and comics, as well as grading by Collectors Archive Service.
After starting with 150 tables at the Roberts Center in Wilmington in March 2020, the show has grown to its current size, and last year saw an estimated 12,000 people over the course of the day.
This year, Eldridge says they are expecting between 12,000 and 15,000 people.
“The cool thing about this event is it’s a festival event, not just a show. It has a festival atmosphere,” Eldridge said. “We try to introduce people to the love of toys and collecting.”
The Great Ohio Toy Show consists of two shows, one in the spring and the other in the fall. While the audience between the two is relatively consistent, Eldridge said, the spring event comes when people are ready to get outside and do something with their families.
“The attention we’re getting nationally is ridiculous,” he said. “It’s amazing how many people are coming to this show.”
Tickets are $6, or $10 for early bird admission at 8 a.m. Kids 10 and under are free.
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