On April 25, 2021, My best friend and I went to the largest toy show in the midwest. The Chicago Toy Show is at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles, Illinois. This was my first time going, and I was so excited. I’ve been wanting to go since I discovered it back in 2015.
When we got there at 9:30 am we thought the line to get in wasn’t too terrible. But then we parked and got out. Turn the corner and bam! The line was about halfway across the parking lot. I was like no frickin way! There is no way I was going to get it. They probably only let so many in at a time, and I was going to have to wait.
Well, while we were waiting for the gate to open at 10 am. A guy came around doing admission tickets which were only $10 per adult. So when it opened, you could just go in, and boy did it make the line go so much faster. As we are walking to the gate, I’m just waiting for them to stop the line because they reached covid guideline capacity. But they didn’t, and I got in. Wooo! I was so happy, but now I didn’t know where to start. They had seven outdoor buildings and two pavilions full of toys.
Since we didn’t know where to go or to start. We just went to the building in front of us, which was the pavilions. Inside there we saw a lot of Star Wars, Marvel, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stuff. Not surprisingly, there were also a lot of Funko Pops throughout the whole show. But in here, I was over the moon to find one of my wish list items and a few other things that I shockingly didn’t have in my collection.
I found three things, all from the 1980s. They were Playful Heart Monkey, A Coloring Book, and Care-a-Lot Playset. I never thought in a million years that I would find Playful Heart Monkey at a toy show. But if I were going to be lucky enough too then it would probably be this one.
After we made our way through the pavilions, we made our way over the Trades building, which was pretty crowded but, most buildings were extremely crowded. Which made it difficult to stop and look, let alone see what anyone had. But from what I could see, there was nothing in there that intrigued me. So we moved onto the animal buildings, which went quick since there wasn’t as much in those. But I did find some more items for my collection.
In these buildings, I found a 1980’s baby clock puzzle and a 1991 environmental Love-a- Lot Bear. This means that I only need Bedtime Bear to complete my set. I did see one earlier in the day, but it was a little bit expensive and in a box.
Overall, It was a pretty awesome time and a heck of a score. So I hope to be able to go back in October.
