Butte County Toy Run

About this event

This one exists because the money was leaving the county. A ride the organisers had been taking part in sent its takings to a drive in Sacramento, and in 1987 TJ Jones, a Butte County foster parent, and Dave Sweet, a Calvary Chapel pastor, started their own so that the toys would stay where the children were. Jones has since died and the run carries his initials in local usage, which is the ordinary way these things pass on. It stages at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico, a Depression-era site whose grandstand, education hall and stock barn were put up by federal relief labour and which has run racing on its track since the fifties, then climbs out of the valley to a church on the Magalia ridge. Admission is a toy or a gift card per person, and a poker run leaves separately for five dollars. The detail that explains the whole thing is at the far end: the gifts are laid out so that foster parents can shop for their own children — two presents each and something for the stocking — rather than being handed a bag chosen by a stranger.