OPINION
Dear Editor,
I was saddened when I read the Toy and Action Figure Museum was closing its doors permanently as of August 31. It’s not the fact that the museum is closing its doors, the museum will land on its feet in OKC or some other city. It’s the fact that Pauls Valley is losing an attraction that made Pauls Valley a year-round destination site. That’s what saddens me the most.
I was the PV Chamber Board President when the museum opened its doors 21 years ago. There was a lot of excitement over the museum with an opening day line of enthusiasts that started at the museum’s front entrance and rounded the corner almost to Williamson’s Furniture. That opening day excitement brought hope to Pauls Valley.
Pauls Valley now had a unique tourist attraction that proved to be more successful than anyone had anticipated. Action figure fans, collectors and artists from the nation and foreign countries flocked to see the treasure trove of action figures the museum had to offer.
The museum put PV on the map as it was featured in Time magazine, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and on television news and tourism shows.
My wife and I volunteered at times on Sunday afternoons and can truthfully tell you that 100 percent of the guests we welcomed were enticed to pull off I-35 and visit the museum because of the billboards on the highway. One family said their son saw the billboards and said he wanted to go to the museum for his birthday. A couple of months later they traveled to PV from the OKC area just to grant their son’s birthday wish.
Would it surprise you if I told you a majority of the visitors to the museum were adults? It’s true. They were either there as collectors or to recapture a portion of their youth.
One Sunday afternoon a father brought his two sons to the museum after seeing the billboards. He said their visit was unplanned, but he couldn’t say “no” to his sons who begged and begged him to take Exit 72. He started making his way through the museum. You could see the boredom on his face…until he discovered something familiar in one the displays.
“Hey” he shouted. “I had that action figure when I was a kid!” He soon found another toy and then another. And that’s when his inner child erupted. Soon he was playing superhero with his sons after discovering the various costumes the museum had for children visitors. He didn’t care the red cape he was wearing was for children. He was reliving the fun he had when he was his sons’ ages. It was a bonding time for him and his boys. Something that would not have happened if it wasn’t for the billboards on I-35.
Now some other city or entity is pursuing the museum. One day soon you’ll see motorists pulling off an Oklahoma highway to see the Toy and Action Figure Museum that has relocated to Ardmore, Shawnee, Bricktown or some other destination site. Unfortunately, it won’t be in Pauls Valley.
Jeff Shultz
Former Toy Museum Board Member
Past PV Chamber Board President