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Adventures in toyland

Six-year-old Wynnie Gray-Burlingame is now living every child’s fantasy— she’s an official toy tester in a home attached to a gigantic carousel and candy store, and adjacent to a mini-golf course.

Wynnie is the daughter of Miranda and Scott Gray-Burlingame who—along with Miranda’s parents Kathy and Ron Gray—recently took over as the new owners of LARK Toys, the 21,000 square foot wonderland in Kellogg. LARK has been described as Santa’s year-round workshop. And it happens to be not only one of the largest independent specialty toy stores in the country, but a must-see roadside attraction.

Together, the families open the door each morning to visitors from around the world who line up to shop for classic toys, buy bags of classic candy, and, especially, take a whirl on LARK’s meticulously-carved carousel, which has been spinning on the half hour since 1997 for those who present their one-dollar wooden coins for a chance to climb aboard a river otter, loon, or wizard riding a dragon. 

The carousel was a nine-year creation story that began with LARK founder Donn Kreofsky’s vision of making the biggest possible toy he could imagine and ended when a team of toymakers, including Tim Monson and Mary Eversman, carved and hand-stained the carousel creatures (on-site out of basswood). Monson and Eversman are still hard at play making toys for LARK.

Please Touch the Toys
There’s oodles to be discovered among the enchanted nooks and crannies. A stroll down “Memory Lane” reveals charming displays of antique toys dating back to the early 1900s. Displays of classic old games, metal toys, collectibles and novelties from another era thrill toy enthusiasts. Replicas, robots and a plethora of gag gifts can be purchased at the adjacent Curiosity Shop.

Shoppers who are fed up with the latest plastic toy sensations gladly dig into their wallets for charming wooden blocks, puzzles, and pull-toys that are made on-site. These are the types of high-quality, timeless toys you can pass on to the next generation and know that they won’t end up in a storage box.

Interactive stations are cleverly scattered among a variety of educational and developmental items for purchase. “We’ve transformed the puppet area with fabulous wooden marionettes,” says Gray-Burlingame. “There’s so many things for kids to do, I recommend trading off supervising the kids so one parent can go shop.” Children race from the silly hat nook to the train table and then back to the puppets and teepee tent. They build pyramids with Wedgits and serve tea to the dollies before drifting back to play Rush Hour in the game room.

Toys range from wind-ups and bicycle bells to kaleidoscopes and mood rings. There’s a whole wall of paper dolls and another of metal lunch boxes ranging from Care Bears to John Deere. There are spinning tops, hula hoops, drinking birds and the world’s largest underpants. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there are wooden nesting dolls with painted likenesses of Barack Obama and the Spice Girls.

Most toys at LARK do not require batteries. But they all do something magical and can’t easily be found anywhere else. “One of my favorite new things is the Plasma Car,” Gray-Burlingame says. “You sit on it, steer with your hands and wiggle back and forth like a fish. It holds 220 pounds, from tiny little children just learning to scoot all the way up to grandmas and grandpas.”

After test-driving a Plasma Car, a self-guided tour of the sprawling property leads to the BookEnd, where more than 5,000 titles for all ages and a big comfy couch beckon a longer stay.

Always a Little Something New
The Gray and Gray-Burlingame families have infused their personalities into LARK Toys while honoring the legacy handed down from Donn and Sarah Kreofsky (LARK Toys stands for “Lost Arts Revival by Kreofsky” and was first opened as a small workshop in 1983). Long-time visitors may notice a few changes in the arrangement of the stores, the addition of the Fudge Tree and Christmas Closet, as well as upgraded lighting and painted murals. The website is being renovated and a credit card system has been installed in the store.

The heart of LARK remains. Hand-crafted toys still line the windows. The waterfall at the 18-hole miniature golf course flows with a new color each summer. And visitors still order their hot dogs from a chalkboard menu. Decades of memories echo from Kral (LARK spelled backward), a mischievous looking wooden troll who fishes from the ceiling.

Though Gip, the pot-bellied pig and former LARK mascot, is no longer living, Kathy Gray hopes to soon welcome llamas to the family business. Just the kind of idea that placed LARK Toys on the map.