Green Bay, Wisconsin (WFRV) – The NEW Hobby Show is in its 35th year and was held on Sunday at the Green Bay Riverside Ballroom.
Event host Aaron Bacovsky said it was gratifying to see people come together about common interests. “I feel like I’m fulfilling my destiny, I really am because these people need a focus,” said Bacovsky.
But the NEW Hobby Show wasn’t always a Hobby Show.
“It started in the 80s, my father started it as a tractor show. It was mostly a farm toy and in order for it to keep working it had to coexist with the more modern toy, ”he said.
Modern toys for sale and display; Like model trains, action figures, Legos.
The show is also about sharing a passion.
“There are so many different things for so many different ages, from the heart of childhood, there is nothing here that you won’t want to take home,” said Dan Wiechman, a Lego salesman and enthusiast.
Brian Gillaume, a local train collector and president of the NEW “O” Gaugers Railroad Club, brings his trains to shows in the area in the hope that other people will understand the hobby.
“(People see them and) they remember their childhood. They see their eyes really light up like, ‘Oh yeah, I had these’ or they had some of the different accessories,” Gillaume said. “So it’s really fun to bring back the memories.”
And now it’s a family affair; Brian’s son Matthew enjoys the same hobby as his father.
“I started collecting them mainly because he had so much fun playing with them. Now I come to every train show, I enjoy it, I really love it, ”said Matthew.
For Bacovsky, it’s what drives him to unite people across their passions.
“You know, as a hobbyist, you’re usually all alone in your industry. To bring everyone together, they need the face they’re buying from and a little encouragement to keep doing what they’re doing,” he said.
The NEW Hobby Show ends on Sunday at three o’clock. It comes to Green Bay every year, the first weekend in March.
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