By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

DYERSVILLE, Iowa — Another National Farm Toy Show has come and gone – the small town of Dyersville was again filled to the brim with toy collectors who came to the biggest show of the year.
Toy Farmer magazine, along with the National Farm Museum and the city of Dyersville, put on an action-packed weekend in early November. This year the temperatures were raw, but business was brisk.

While the show did not officially open until Nov. 7, vendors set up early around the toy museum and all over town. Collectors came early to try to find a bargain or two. Early arrivals willing to pay a bit extra were welcomed to Beckman High School and the museum gym a little early to shop before the crowds arrived.

One farm toy icon at this year’s show was Joe Ertl. He was on hand with his book, Scale Model Toys, Scale Models Collectors Guide. It was the Ertl family that really put Dyersville on the map, and they have been at the forefront of the farm toy hobby for decades.

The Ertl toy business began in Dubuque, Ill., when Joe’s father, Fred, was laid off from his foundry job and began making toy tractors from scrap aluminum. From these early beginnings, Joe Ertl now owns Scale Models, which focuses its efforts on making toys for kids and miniature replicas for collectors.

At Beckman High School, many collectors were picking up their featured farm toy, the Allis-Chalmers 7580, from the Toy Farmer booth or getting the last Zeke or Mildred collectible. These toys were originally created for Toy Farmer in 1985, 1986 and 1987 and will become collectibles in years to come.

The AC 7580 tractor is a brute built between 1976 and 1981. Toy Farmer writer Peter Simpson reported a bit of history about the featured AC two-wheel drive mode selected for the show this year.
“The 7000 Series of two-wheel drive tractors from Allis-Chalmers was introduced in 1973 and were described as a clean-sheet design. The 7000 Series looked totally different from any previous A-C tractor,” he said.

While this was the model of choice for Toy Farmer, the National Farm Toy Museum selected a Farmall brand for its premier model. This was a great accompaniment to the newly opened “Farmalls First in the Field” display at the museum.

National Farm Toy Museum Executive Assistant Amanda Schwartz shared information about the selected model, the Case 1/16th-scale Farmall 560 demo with a 4 Gold 5-bottom plow. “The toy featured a full operator’s platform, two-person seat, front-weights, front access steps and a power adjusts rim detail,” she said.

One factor that made the 560 demo a great tractor is that there weren’t many in production. “Very few of these were produced,” she said. “They were made for the dealers. International Harvester would take a new piece or implement and make it gold, to stand out.”

IH used the demos as a way to advertise new features. One example Schwartz provided was tailored hydraulics. “The demo would provide a walking, talking billboard,” she explained.

The two-person seat placed on the demo served as a way for the dealer to ride with the farmer and show them the new features. “The farmer could be right there and ask questions,” she said.
The “Farmall First in the Field” exhibit has a wide variety of IH toys, literature and memorabilia. “This is an educational history for toy collectors, but is true to International Harvester history,” Schwartz added.

On Nov. 8, the annual auction was held along with the layout competition. Competitors from all over the United States traveled to compete in this event. One man who won this competition in the past, Terry Spahr, returned to Dyersville with his award-winning Star Barn, and for this year added the surrounding buildings. The display is a miniature of those located in Dauphin County, Penn.
Spahr traveled all the way from California to share his 1/12th-scale display. The Star Barn won the layout competition as the Best of Show in 2005.

Visitors could hop on a bus to travel from the school to the museum, to Commercial Park to downtown. In the Dyersville area, visitors also took time to visit the Field of Dreams before it closed for the season. This filming site of the movie is located just miles outside of Dyersville and while it was a chilly visit, many braved the wind anyway.