At 60, Calhoun attorney Randy Sauder feels like a kid again when he builds things out of Erector set parts, some nearly a century old.
But Sauder doesn’t just throw together basic bridges or stale skyscrapers. His Coney Island Fun House, featuring more than 2,000 moving parts, won the best model award last year at the A.C. Gilbert Heritage Society national convention in Chicago. That was neat since the gathering celebrated the centennial of the founding of the company that brought the world Erector sets, American Flyer trains, chemistry and magic sets, dozens of other educational toys and an array of appliances for the adults in the house.
This weekend, the Gilbert Heritage Society convention will be held in Atlanta for the first time, and its toy fair on Saturday at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest will be free to the public.
Hundreds of toys from the now-defunct A.C. Gilbert Co., everything from Atomic Energy sets to slot car tracks to running American Flyer trains, will be on display (as will a scattering of items from other makers). Some items will be for sale.
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EVENT PREVIEW
A.C. Gilbert Heritage Society toy show
9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Free. Atlanta Marriott Northwest, 200 Interstate North Parkway SE, Atlanta. www.acghs.org.
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