The Minnesota Toy Posse August event, their second post-COVID show, just took place on Sunday (August 2nd). Once again, the show took place within the parking lot of Eagles 34, in Minneapolis, and, again, spaces between dealers were really generous. It’s the new normal, but show organizers (Dave Wheeler and Mark Seekamp), required everyone to wear masks and they had to sign in, for COVID-tracing. Also, I am assuming they had a cap of how many people can fill the parking lot.

While last month’s show (July 12) show advertised as “50 Tables”, that was not the case (I’m sure they intended for a much bigger show), but since they had to space out the dealers… the real number of tables is closer to 36, as mentioned in this month’s flyer.

Since this was the second outdoor show, dealers learned a lot from the first show and many of them upgraded to tent canopy to keep them cool in the shades. Unfortunately, since it was an incredibly windy day, some dealers actually took down the canopies when the canvas was being blown down.

I can confirm that attendance seems to be down pre-COVID, probably over 60% to 70%, based on attending last month’s show and arriving early (11am) for this August show. Please note that is just based on my observation and not based on any actual facts.

While I did overspend ($100), they were mostly on cheap or fairly priced figures. One thing that I’ve noticed is that the markup on some exclusive figures weren’t overpriced. For example, the exclusive Walmart’s Master of the Universe “New for 20” figures were sold for $20, which is a $5 markup. But if it will save you a trip to an overcrowded Walmart store, it’s well worth it.

I actually like the outdoor toy shows, and will likely attend again, especially since the location is much closer to last year’s Bloomington area. If you like deals and loves toys, check out these MN Toy Posse shows.