With the Toy Makers’ House Museum’s grand opening approaching on September 4-5, museum organizers are asking anyone who owns original Tryon Toy-Makers and Wood-Carvers toys or furniture to lend or donate them to the museum. Your name will be become a part of the museum and will be displayed in the museum if you wish.

The Toy Makers’ House Museum will educate all to the memories, history, art and knowledge that were and still are the “toy house.” The museum’s motto is “Keeping creativity alive at the Toy Makers’ House. Art, history and imagination will always reside here.” &bsp;

Any Tryon Toy-Makers and Wood-Carvers toy, furniture item or photo loaned, donated or sold to the museum will help the museum’s exhibitions to grow and further educate the public on the incredible history that lives right around the corner.

Grand opening Sept. 4

In honor of both Tryon and Morris, the Toy Makers’ House will be open Saturday, Sept. 4 during Tryon’s 125th birthday celebration.

The museum will open its doors after Tryon’s Big Heritage Parade downtown at 11. The museum will have free toy making classes for children, food, drink, live music and costume contests.

Sunday evening will be the official grand opening reception of the Toy Makers’ House Museum. On September 5, 1925 the “Toy House” first opened its doors.&bsp; The museum will celebrate this occastion by holding the Toy Makers’ House Museum Grand Opening 85th Anniversary Reception. &bsp;

The museum’s official grand opening will be a part of Tryon’s year long 125th Anniversary Celebration this year. This timing was appropriate, museum organizers say, given how closely the Tryon Toy-Makers are tied with Tryon’s history. Morris (the horse and mascot of Tryon) was originally created by The Tryon Toy Makers and Wood Carvers and gifted to The Tryon Riding & Hunt Club. The museum is currently a N.C. nonprofit organization.

The museum will focus on the following:

To increase the public’s awareness and knowledge of the art and history of Tryon, the Toy Makers’ House, and the Tryon Toy-Makers and Wood-Carvers. &bsp;

To enhance the public’s knowledge of the history of toys and furniture that were created at the Toy Makers’ House by the Tryon Toy-Makers and Wood-Carvers.

To create more interest in history, art, Tryon and the surrounding areas of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

To educate the public on the traditions of wood working and its aspects in traditional toys. These will include the history created in Tryon by Charlotte Yale and Eleanor Vance.

To offer art classes that fit the museum’s slogan, “Keeping creativity alive at the Toy House.”

Given The Toy-Makers and Wood-Carvers close tie with nature and the trees that were formed into all of their craft, the museum hopes to also include a natural garden area for picnicing and education on the trees and nature that surround the museum.

To offer a museum gift shop that will feature original handmade arts such as hand carved wooden vessels, pottery, glass and of course handmade wooden toys from contemporary artists.

To mount art exhibitions of original toys and furniture created at The Toy Makers’ House and by contemporary artists that exemplify the creative artisty that was originally created there.

To create historical exhibitions informing the area of the N.C. history that the Toy Makers’ House holds. These exhibitions will focus on the Toy Makers’ House’s national and international reputation, its contribution not only to North Carolina but to the entire region, and the historical elements of the woodworks and toys that were created there.

To mount exhibitions focusing on the many aspects of women’s studies that took place at the Toy Makers’ House. Some examples include three first ladies who visited The Toy Makers’ House, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who gave a speech to the Town of Tryon from the front steps of The Toy Makers’ House, all of the incredible accomplishments that these two women realized and the fact that they did this in the early 1900s. At the time this certainly set a new standard for the area.

The Toy Makers’ House Museum is located in the original “Toy House” at 43 East Howard Street, Tryon, N.C. 28782.