GASPORT — An avid toy collector will share his massive array of John Deere toys and other farm memorabilia at an open house Saturday and Sunday at 3251 Hosmer Road.
Cliff Grant first started collecting toy tractors when he bought his first son a rubber tractor teething toy. When his son no longer used it, Grant put it up on a shelf. His first actual toy tractor was a John Deere 5020, which he purchased at the State Fair.
Grant grew up on an 81-acre farm on the Johnson Road, Middleport.
“The farm wasn’t big enough to support two families, so I pursued a different career,” he said.
He had taken a machinist course at BOCES, and after graduating from Royalton-Hartland High School, he went to work at E&M Enterprises in Middleport, where he worked 16 years. Next, he went to Harrison Radiator in Lockport, where he would spend 30 years.
His love of farm tractors and toys stems from the fact that he grew up with seven sisters, and there weren’t many boy toys around, he said.
He was drafted into the Army and serving in Vietnam when his mother wrote and said she had just had a baby boy.
“He was 21 years younger than me,” Grant said. “As the years went along, I’d see a toy and buy it if I liked it.”
“We would stop at any John Deere dealer we saw,” said his wife Sue. “We still do.”
His collection of more than 4,000 toys includes 125 pedal cars, 10 lawn and garden tractors, a toy John Deere motorcycle and snowmobile, a manure spreader, planter and numerous collections, such as Mickey Mouse and Molly Moo characters on John Deere equipment.
He has five real tractors that run, a line of 15-scale and 8-scale toys, one of every brand of pedal tractor, John Deere hammocks and flags, cookie jars, lunch pails, mailboxes and numerous framed pictures.
“I first started out only collecting John Deere, then I branched out to other makes,” Grant said.
He has several one-of-a-kind items in his collection, including a yellow and lavender Oliver.
A 1960 grain drill was once owned by Dave Culver of Albion.
One display case houses memorabilia from a trip to Germany the Grants made with the Middleport Community Choir, including pictures taken by the late Herb Koenig during a visit to Mannheim. John Deere’s 6000 series tractors were made there.
In 2000, Grant bought a John Deere Gator to run, but he has never put the battery in it, instead choosing to display it on a shelf.
Grant built his first barn to house his collection in 2000.
“We got it done and it wasn’t big enough,” Grant said. “So we decided to buy a second building from Penn Yan. It came in two sections.”
A third barn was built 10 years ago and is also full.
While Cliff is a farm boy, Sue grew up in town and calls herself a “farmer in training.” While she supports Cliff in his love of farm toys, she calls it “a wonderful hobby which has become an insane obsession.”
“It draws people from all over the state,” she said. “When the FFA Convention was in Medina, they came here on a tour.”
The open house Saturday and Sunday will be the first in 10 years, Sue said.
On Sunday, Cafora’s Pizza from Newfane will be on site selling pizza and cold drinks. Also on Sunday, the Model T Club will be on site, along with other vintage automobiles. Both days, farmers from the local area will have their modern equipment on display in the yard. This includes McCullum, Verratti, Silsby’s, Tom Britt, Steve Spencer and Jason Besso.
The open house will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. There will be live music by “101 Country” both days.
The Grants say they also welcome individual tours and anyone interested in coming may call them at 716-213-3016.