OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City Historical Museum announces the opening of its special exhibit Buckets of Fun: Sand Pails & Beach Toys. The exhibit features over 500 vintage sand pails, sand shovels, sand molds, sand sifters and vintage wind-up boats from the 1860s to the 1970s.
The exhibit is on loan from the collection of Robert E. Smith of Shippensburg, Pa., and traveled from the Rehoboth Beach Museum in Delaware.
According to Smith, the guest curator, “I am one of those “Collector Fanatics” up at the crack of dawn scouring local flea markets and antique stores for all kinds of treasures. Ebay is also an excellent source of beach toys. I began collecting sand pails about three years ago.”
By the 1850s, tinsmiths began making toys, which made the toy business an important and growing industry. Technology improved as demand increased. Workers saw an increase in leisure time as unions, labor laws and better technology paved the way for the notion of weekends and free time.
In addition, disposable income and better transportation such as the growth of the railroads made resort communities like Ocean City attractive to the growing middle class. Toy companies saw a need and filled it.
The Buckets of Fun: Sand Pails & Beach Toys exhibit opening reception will be held on June 24 from 6-7 p.m. in the museum. Smith will give a lively and informative lecture from 7-8 in the new lecture hall at the Community Center.
The exhibit will be sure to bring back happy memories from your childhood. For more information call 399-1801 or info@ocnjmuseum.org The Museum is located in the Community Center, 1735 Simpson Ave. Ocean
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