MANKATO — For Wally Boyer, Star Wars is where family, culture and cinematic history come together.
But longtime owner of Jake’s Stadium Pizza didn’t do it by himself. As his kids came along on a schedule that matched the original trio of movies, they were inducted into collecting as easily as an Imperial general joining Darth Vader to attack a rebel outpost. Wife Brenda was a co-conspirator.
When Blue Earth County Historical Society staff learned about Boyer’s nearly 50-year collection, they reached out to add it to the “Toys!” exhibit now on display. Boyer quickly said yes, lending enough items to fill one case in the downstairs hallway and another in the upstairs gallery; they will be there until about Labor Day.
“While they just put it up maybe two weeks ago, people have commented several times, ‘I really love the Star Wars display. It’s a wonderful thing that combines generations,’” said Shelley Harrison, BECHS archivist.
Collecting the items really began as a family activity, Boyer said, but then became one where each of the three boys would request or get their favorite items. Or three of each were collected.
“I remember going to ‘Return of the Jedi.’ It started out we bought the toys to play with. And after a short while, my son Chris, this one here,” he said, pointing to his son, had an idea. He told them, Boyer said, “‘You know, these are going to be more valuable if we leave them in the package.’ Then we started doing that.”
The popularity of the toys caught makers by surprise. One collection of figures, for example, sold so quickly the Boyers received an “early bird certificate package,” a place filler of sorts, before they got the figures. Figurine sizes shrunk when oil was too costly, leading to others like GI-Joe following suit, Harrison said.
For the family, it wasn’t just a matter of buying something when they saw it at the store. Suddenly, everything they did seemed to have a Star Wars facet to it.
“We used to drive to New York to visit our son once a year,” Brenda Boyer said. “That’s back when Toys R Us stores were open and they’re always nice and clean and have a nice bathroom. We knew every Toys R Us between Mankato and New York City.”
They could always check out what was new, any clearance items they may have missed elsewhere, and occasionally the rare item. Stops could result not only in a needed bathroom break but a new Land Speeder or other item.
New York was also the site of Comic Con events that they visited often in addition to smaller ones in Chicago, Wally Boyer said. Obviously, items were cheapest when purchased when first released. Many times they were signed by actors who played the roles. What cost maybe $10 back then could cost $125 now, for example.
Every item in the collection brings back personal memories for Boyer, both of the movie and the family connections associated with it. His ownership of Jake’s created a special relationship to Pepsi, sometimes making special promotional items available to them. For the last six years or so they bring up items from the basement for people to view on “Stars Wars Day,” May the Fourth. The collection is always downstairs, but shown by invitation only.
Another benefit of having his items as part of the BECHS display is a community cross-pollination. Some of the customers from Jake’s could make their first-ever trips to the history center to see his collection, he said, and support the society.
“We’d like to see people come down here,” Boyer said. “History — even though this is toy history — is so important.”