BOXFORD — Last year, the toys overflowed the first 40-foot shipping container, spilled across the grounds of a rural school and still kept coming.
This year, with an accessible new spot on the Topsfield Fairgrounds, organizers guess the venerable Toy Fair will get twice as big as it ever has been.
Founded in 1991, the Community Giving Tree's Annual Toy Fair started off as an easy way for some parents to get rid of surplus toys and books and other parents to pick up nice items cheap. The proceeds started to go to local charities.
Leslie Levenson, executive director of the West Boxford-based organization, said social workers were telling them about kids whose homes had no books, no soap and no backpacks.
"This toy fair was really about opening my eyes to need," said Levenson, who has been involved nine years. "It's connected a bunch of people who want to help with a bunch of people who are really in need."
Sue Rubin, an outreach coordinator for the organization, said this year's move to the 4-H building in Topsfield was required because the fair simply outgrew Spofford Pond School. Even with that, most donations were coming from Boxford residents. The fairgrounds make the Toy Fair accessible to families in its member communities of Topsfield, Middleton and Boxford, but also make it easier for people from areas like Beverly, Salem and Danvers to attend, she said.
Levenson sees only good things to come from the move.
"We were only collecting toys from Boxford. We've got double the space, and I think we'll fill that up, too," she said.
Levenson said one of the 1991 Toy Fair's founders, Betty Obernesser, will still be involved, working the cash register on the day of the big sale. Last year's sales came to about $9,500, she said.
If you go
Donations for the Toy Fair may be made today through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. at the 4-H building on the Topsfield Fairgrounds. All donations must be clean, have all parts and be suitable for resale.
The Toy Fair will run 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8, at the 4-H building. Items for sale will include preschool toys, games, action figures, bikes, ride-on toys, Legos, dolls and books.
For more information, see www.communitygivingtree.org.
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