East Coast collectors of political buttons, badges, ribbons and related ephemera are expected to meet in Titusville on Saturday, April 29, to sell, trade and display memorabilia from the 2016 campaigns, as well as from elections throughout the centuries in the 14th-annual APIC Button Show.
The show is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Titusville United Methodist Church. Attendees can expect to see a wide variety of political items, ranging from 2016 presidential-campaign buttons promoting candidates Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to items from such popular former presidents as Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.
The gathering will be hosted by the local chapter of the American Political Items Collectors national nonprofit hobbyist association, dedicated to preserving political history.
“Our political memorabilia shows offer a great opportunity for young and old alike to collect buttons and other items from the heated 2016 presidential campaign, not to mention other campaigns—local, state or national—throughout American history,” says Tony Lee, a Titusville resident and president of APIC’s Big Apple Chapter. “Most political items don’t survive the elections in which they were used, so to see an ‘I Like Ike’ apron or a Ronald Reagan cowboy hat or a clothing button worn at George Washington’s inauguration and inscribed with ‘Long Live the President’ is a great experience for students of political history at any age.”
The historic Titusville United Methodist Church is located at 7 Church Road, at the corner of River Road and Church Road in Titusville. The button show will be held in the church’s education building. Ample free parking should be available.
Admission to the event will be $3 for each adult. Children 12 years or younger can enter free of charge. APIC will give children assorted buttons free of charge to start their own personal collections.
Free appraisals will be offered for all political items brought in by members of the public; members of the public also may bring items for auction, with a commission rate of 10 percent of the overall sale.
A wide selection of baked goods and bottomless cups of hot coffee and tea will be offered for sale (with net food-sale proceeds benefiting the church and its ministries). For more information, contact Tony Lee at (609) 310-0817 or tonylee08560@gmail.com.
