By By EDWIN MODLIN II
edwin@wdnweb.com
Staff Writer
Beaufort County FFA Alumni Association members and FFA supporters come together for the association’s 12th-annual Farm Toy Show on Friday and Saturday.
Show hours are from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Admission to the show is $3 a person for adults and free for children under 12 when accompanied by a paying adult.
The show revolves around miniature farm displays that have proven to be crowd favorites over the years, said show manager Larna Corbin.
The show takes place at the Redmen’s Lodge, 503 E. Third St., Washington.
“This year’s show will again feature the miniature layouts of Jacob and James Latham from Bath,” Corbin said, “as well as from Todd, Dawson and Meredith Boyd from Pinetown.”
Corbin said a newcomer to the show, Williamston Middle School student Clark Gurganus, is bringing his one-eighth-scale cotton display.
Corbin said Dick Lasher from Chocowinity will have his wooden trucks, tractors and wagons for sale. He’s among vendors from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and other states.
“Dick is a retired engineer who worked with the space program in the Philadelphia area before moving to Chocowinity 10 years ago,” Corbin said.
According to Corbin, Lasher’s woodworking hobby started with jewelry boxes and furniture, but then it switched to toys.
“He makes his toys out of maple and/or oak with a thin coat of nontoxic oil applied to them, rather than stained,” she said. “A few years ago, he and several other men from Cypress Landing got together and made many wooden toys for the Toys for Tots program.”
Another favorite toy-maker, C.J. Jackson from Edenton, customizes toys for those who cannot seem to find exactly what they’re looking for.
“Such as, if you need a pink tractor for that little farm girl,” Corbin said, “then C.J. is your man.”
While the show centers around toys, the association also highlights the importance of agriculture.
“When asked where our food comes from, the usual response is: ‘The grocery store,’” Corbin said. “While that may be true, it really starts with the producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, vegetables and fruit as well as the beef, pork and poultry producers.
“Besides being the food source, agriculture producers are also responsible for many other items we all use on a daily basis, including the cotton growers who produce the raw material from which much of our clothing and linens are made.”
Money raised by the show will provide scholarship funds to area high-school seniors pursuing agricultural degrees and financial assistance to Beaufort County’s four high-school FFA chapters, enabling their students to attend state and national leadership conferences and conventions.
“This year’s scholarship winner was Forrest Howell from Pungo Christian Academy in Belhaven,” Corbin said. “He is currently attending Beaufort County Community College and will transfer to N.C. State next year to continue working toward his degree in agriscience.”
Corbin said Howell wants to return to Beaufort County to enhance farming techniques that preserve the environment and improve productivity.