The 16th annual Central Iowa Toy Show will be held Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the South Hamilton School gymnasium in Jewell, about 20 minutes north of Ames.

The show is sponsored by the Jewell Lions Club.

The toy show is filled to capacity this year. Fifty-three exhibitors from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Kansas will fill about 125 tables. Capacity is 120 tables, Gene Willis, one of the show’s coordinators, said.

He said about two-thirds are returning exhibitors.

“There’s just something for everybody,” Willis said.

While most displays are agriculture-related, there will also be a couple displays of dolls, a display of NASCAR items, a display of scented candles and other hand-crafted items such as display cases.

There will also be a model railroad, works by a local artist, agricultural prints, sales literature and cast iron replicas from as early as the 1920s.

One exhibitor from Duncan, Iowa will display hand-carved quarter scale tractors. “It’s just amazing work he does,” Willis said. “You wouldn’t think they’re carved out of wood.”

People attending can buy, trade, sell or just look at all the toys and collectibles.

“Now is the opportunity for a person to buy the toy that they never had as a child … or to try to find one that they had that maybe got thrown away or destroyed,” Willis said.

Willis said “a true collector has to relate to the toys,” either because he is from the era the toys represent, has experience with what they represent or appreciate the detail.

The toys are also a good way to preserve history, he said, allowing people to see what tools were previously used in agriculture.

He said there are a few who justify their interest in the toys as good investments.

“Cast iron toys continue to appreciate in value,” he said.

Willis was one of the Lions Club members who helped start the toy show, which he said is one of the longest running shows.

“We were lucky enough to get in on the ground floor,” he said.

The national toy show, held the first week of November in Dyersville, Iowa, has been running for 20 years.

“You can find half a dozen shows any weekend any month of the year now,” Willis said.

The Toy Farmer, which Willis said is “the magazine that [toy collectors] all subscribe to and are addicted to” sponsors the national toy show. It lists over 25 toy shows for this weekend.

Last year more than 1,000 people attended the Central Iowa Toy Show.

Net proceeds from the event will be used by the Lions Club to fund its local, state and international projects.

General admission to the show is $2 and children 12 and under will be admitted free of charge. Lunch will be served.