Ruben on the Road: Happy Toy Maker building toys for over 20 years

HAPPY, Texas (KFDA) - Ruben makes a stop in Happy where he meets a toy maker who has been building toys for over 20 years.

Jerry Sims, the Happy Toy Maker, says about 24 years ago, his boys wanted a blue doctoring shoot so they could work cattle like people do here in the pens.

“I built them a tub and a snake and a processing chute for Christmas, and they were about two and three years old then and now they’re 26 and 28, but they liked it so much, I just had to keep building them toys for birthdays and Christmas,” said Sims.

Sims says his wife Patrice makes little animals out of a rubberized resin.

She’s got about 60 molds in her shop that she builds them from and hand paints them. Sims says she tries to make as many animals that one would see on a farm or ranch.

“Well, everybody just kept wanting, you know, some toys for their kids here locally, And I just started kind of building them,” said Sims.

Around 2006, Sims says they finally took off and started building some things for the public. They made about 47 sets of wheel corrals that year and it kind of doubled every year since then.

“We can put your names, brands on them, paint them the colors you want, you know, for generations to come,” said Sims. “You can kind of have an heirloom that’s got your brand and your name on it.”

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