Toys. They don’t all have to be plastic, hermetically sealed and made in China.

Some of them are still handmade by real artisans, and at the Farm Toy Show today and Saturday, one may view entire collections and purchase some toys.

The Farm Toy Show is open today from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. General admission is $3 for each adult; children under 10, and accompanied by a paying adult, are admitted free.

The show, sponsored by the Future Farmers of America, will be held at the Improved Order of Red Men’s lodge at 503 E. Third St., Washington. Proceeds from the show will be used to create scholarships for student FFA members in local high schools and who are preparing for careers in agricultural science, business and technology. Agricultural science is one of the few fields that will have many jobs to offer and not enough trained people to fill them in the coming years.

Larna Corbin has been the show manager since its inception, which she had a hand in creating.

“The FFA was looking for a new fundraiser,” Corbin said. “I come from the Midwest, where there are farm-toy shows every weekend, but they’d never had one here. I was willing to do it, so we tried it.”

It worked out well, as the show is in its 13th year and attracts vendors from across the state, South Carolina, Florida and Virginia. Some vendors return year after year to sell their wares. Not all of the vendors have to drive far to attend the show.

Dick Lasher, a Chocowinity resident, has brought his handmade cars, trucks and tractors over the Pamlico River for the past several years. A furniture and jewelry-box maker, he decided to expand into toys to have a lower-priced item to sell at the various shows he attends. As a result, his creations have grown increasingly popular, so much so that he sold out of tractors at the Albemarle Crafts Show in Elizabeth City last week. His toys are crafted from naturally colored woods: paduak, from Africa, which is a red hardwood; yellow heart, from Brazil; and the dark brown of Brazilian cherry, among other exotic woods stacked in a pile in his woodshop. But as beautiful as the wood and craftsmanship are, Lasher is clear about the purpose of his designs.

“These toys are meant for kids to play with,” Lasher said.

Lasher makes them sturdy, and he purposefully uses the colorful woods so he doesn’t have to stain the finished creations.

“I put a thin coat of oil that sinks in, just to bring out the color,” Lasher said. “All solvents are gone within 72 hours.”

Lasher is but one of several eastern North Carolina vendors who will attend the show this year. Todd Boyd, from Pinetown, his son Dawson and nephew Garrett return to the show with their large 1/64-scale farm complete with harvesting and planting scenes. From Edenton, Carlton Jackson will take orders for his custom-made toys, and Tommy Respess, with his son Robert, will be displaying their collection, as well as selling toys from a large collection they recently acquired.

The Farm Toy Show is dedicated to another local vendor, Gordy Edwards, a collector of vintage farm scenes and equipment, who lost his battle with cancer earlier this year.

The show is a great opportunity to support local craftsmen, pick up a few Christmas gifts and see the evolution of farm toys, according to its organizers.