Chuck and Barb Burkholder: "We have been doing this a long time."

Burkholder's Midwest Parts

Mon Mar 01, 2010

by Don Voelker

At that announcement, an article was written by Tomma Lou Maas for Toy Farmer (November 1994) in which Chuck Burkholder remarked about their Burkholder's Midwest Parts & Decals business, "It doesn't mean we are the biggest, but I don't know anybody that was doing it sooner than we were."

Included in Chuck's achievements, are several reference books co-authored with Ray Crilley. Collecting Model Farm Toys of the World in 1979 and International Directory of Model Farm Tractors came out in 1985. In 1993, the two hobby pioneers came out with International Directory of Farm Tractors & Implements featuring John Deere.

The 1994 article continued, "Any collector will want to own the original volume which is now known as the 'bible' of the farm toy hobby."

Chuck and Barb have continued their long-standing devotion to the hobby over the past 35 years. The Burkholders are dedicated to their parts business and toy collections. Barb spends many hours a day in the basement packing and shipping the parts and decals. Orders come in from the web site, the fax machine and the answering machine, plus the phone calls. When the couple is gone for three to five days to a major toys how, there is a large stack of mail.

Chuck said, "If I am not busy, I will go down there and pack too; or if she is stumped, I will help her out. But most of the time, I am digging through damaged toys looking for parts. It has been a good business. I can't get out of it until I find somebody that has the money and the knowledge to keep the business going." Chuck and Barb have decided that they don't want to hire anyone; they are going to just peck away at the work. [Subscribe to Toy Farmer and read the rest of this article.]