Political history will come alive once again this month in Titusville.
For 16 years, historians, teachers and collectors have been meeting for an annual gathering of political history.
The event is considered a spring political collectors’ gathering, which takes place inside Titusville United Methodist Church on April 13, according to organizers of the event.
The church is located at 7 Church Road.
“This is an opportunity for collectors and amateur historians to come together. People get to look at items from past political campaigns through our country’s history,” said Tony Lee, the president of the ‘Big Apple’ Chapter, which organizes the event. “They get to collect items and talk about them.”
The ‘Big Apple’ Chapter is part of a national organization that is called the American Political Items Collectors, according to Lee.
The event will include political buttons, badges and ribbons from elections throughout the years.
“You have Libertarians, Socialists, Tea Partiers, Republicans, Democrats and Green Partiers that attend and showcase their memorabilia,” Lee said. “The people who attend are not really advocates of a political party, they are more of historians. This gathering takes a look at the history of American politics.”
He said the members of his chapter tend to be history teachers, lawyers, politicians and government officials.
The show is expected to attract a good crowd, according to Lee.
“We fill a room in the church’s educational building. We typically get between 150-200 people who attend the event,” Lee said. “We get a lot of students from Hopewell Valley Central High School who come as well. We also have about 20 people who are selling and showcases their various types of political buttons, badges and ribbons.”
He said he wants people to know the show is open to everyone no matter their political beliefs.
“You could be a Trump supporter and come find things you like and you can be Franklin Roosevelt supporter and find something you like,” Lee said. “We just have cool things from all over here at this show.”
There will be an area designated for cause collecting. Cause collecting is buttons and memorabilia from a certain cause that people believe in, according to organizers.
“A few folks from Hopewell have been coming consistently through the years. They have been coming here for two reasons, one is they treat the show like a museum and the second is the church makes excellent homemade food for the event,” Lee said with a laugh.
Children who attend the event will receive a free button from every dealer, to help encourage collecting and the learning of political history, according to organizers.
“It is just a lot of fun to see everybody get together,” he said.
Admission for the event will be $3 for adults and free for any child 12 years old or younger.
For more information about the event, contact Tony Lee at 609-310-0817 or email tonylee08560@gmail.com.
