Team JLyons holds Hobby and Collectibles Show
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
Dozens of collectors had the chance to pick up more items for their collections at the Team JLyons Hobby and Collectors/Arts and Crafts Show held at the Copperas Cove Civic Center Saturday.
This show marked the third show organized by Team JLyons. The first one was held back in November 2021 and the second one was held earlier this year in March.
Admission to the show was $2 per person, and the funds raised from the show will go to support different charities and activities that Team JLyons supports, which include raising awareness for Lupus, Autism and supporting the community.
Dorothy Johnson, daughter of Charles Lyons, was set up at the Team JLyons booth, which sold Pokémon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh and other non-sports cards plus Hot Wheels cars.
Johnson said that the Hobby and Collectors show first started as a way for her dad to sell items he has collected, and it has turned into a way for people to come and find something they may have been looking for.
“We’re a smaller community. You usually have to travel to Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, but amongst ourselves, we all have our own collectibles we collect and different crafts that we do, and it’s fun to be able to have it in the community for everybody to visit,” Johnson said.
Grady Rhoades was one of the vendors set up, selling bags of Legos, toy cars, comics, action figures, sports cards, Pops, signed autographs, various games from the 1980s, including Donkey Kong, and more.
“We used to have an antique booth when we lived in Michigan, and so we just kind of did it that way,” Rhoades said about the selection of items. “I’ve got this stuff out of my house, now I need to get rid of it.”
Rhoades said he had set up at the Team JLyons Hobby Fair last time, and he was happy to see more people turn out this time around.
“I love it, because I know some of the guys here,” Rhoades said about the Hobby and Collectors show. “I know there’s shops and stuff like that, so we kind of know each other, so it’s a lot of people I’ve seen before, and then I see in the card shop and stuff like that.”
Jennifer Walters, of JENX, has been at each of the Team JLyons shows, selling her artwork, handmade stuffed bears and other stuffed animals, pillows, bags, rugs, keychains, buttons, stickers, cups, jewelry and more- all of which feature different television, anime, movie or video game characters, from “Fullmetal Alchemist” to “Harry Potter” to Animal Crossing to Marvel Universe superheroes to DC Universe superheroes and more.
“I just like doing art, and I just wanted to sell the art that I do and stuff and have fun with it, so I continue doing drawings and stuff. I created images for cups and everything. My mom, she sews the dolls and stuff, and I brought her along with me and my aunt along with me- she does keychains and everything,” Walters said. “Then I started doing rugs and jewelry boxes and just all sorts of fun stuff to have fun with.”
Walters has sold at comic cons before and other bigger festival events. She said she likes doing smaller events like this hobby show because it allows for more time to sit down and take a breath before another customer shows up.
She said she liked this hobby show also because it helps bring out people who each have their own interests.
“You’ve got little areas where anybody can come and talk and meet and stuff because it’s like all the places that used to be around in Cove and Killeen, they’re all disappearing, and there’s no little area for everybody to come together for things like these,” Walters said. “It’s like it’s all out of town, and you’ve got to go to Austin and Dallas, so it’s nice to have something close by, where everybody can come out.”
Vendors included JENX, Firelok Designs (selling handmade custom woodworking, “Nerdgear” and Dungeons and Dragons accessories), Lucky Duck Sports Cards and Collectibles, Simple Pleasures/Simple Treasure,s, Jhills LLC (selling sports trading cards), Bandito Comics, Gran’s Corner (selling handmade wooden crosses and charcuterie boards), 7K Metals, Whims and Whimsies (selling Mary Kay), McCants AVON, Homemade Jams by Debbie (selling TY Beanie Babies, Cherished Teddies, vintage collectibles and jams and jellies), Apollo Sporting Cards and Collectibles, Bagley (selling Funko Pop items and other collectibles), Just4Love LLC, Team JLyons, Happy Poppin Family LLC (selling Funko Pops and Pokemon).
Items available ranged from Funko Pop collectibles to sports trading cards, Pokemon items, Beanie Babies, Magic the Gathering cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, Hot Wheels cars, older toys, video games from the 80s and 90s, including Nintendo 64 game cartridges, and more.
The next Hobby and Collectors show by Team JLyons will be in October.