Zumbro Valley Scale Modelers show has grown big in 27 years

Feb. 5—ROCHESTER — While the models might be tiny, the Zumbro Valley Scale Modelers' annual Hope It Don't Snow Show has been anything but small the last 27 years.

The Hope it Don't Snow Show, held over the weekend, began as a small light-hearted competition and gathering place for toy model makers in the area and has now grown and evolved.

"So the idea is to get everybody sort of out of the cabin fever sort of thing and get them here," said George Romano, president of the Zumbro Valley Scale Modelers. "These contests and shows go on yearround, but not many are in the wintertime and so we kind of went against all that to say effectively, get out of the house. Come over here, get together with some people and socialize a little bit, so you have a break in the middle of the winter. So that's the hope of doing the Hope it Don't Snow Show."

Modelers who bring in their work to display. There are nine categories for people to enter in and a bunch of special awards given out during the day, but it isn't just about the competition.

"We have people from our club and people who just walk in the door volunteer to judge the models," Romano said. "The emphasis is that it's like a show. I kind of think of this as if you go to the county fair, you're gonna have a blue ribbon cow and you're gonna have a red ribbon cow. So that's the concept. It's not necessarily that we're trying to make it a competition as much as we want to basically award somebody for their effort."

In the 27 years of doing the show, the event has grown a lot. It began with just club members getting together to show their models, but now people have learned about the event and helped it to grow.

"We have 491 models in this room on these tables," Romano said. "Even though it's one room and it's just us, it's one of the bigger shows in Southeast Minnesota, I would say, but actually in the state of Minnesota. People have fun. They like it."

Romano wants the event to be stress free for the participants. It's not about winning an award but the craft and artistry that goes into every model.

"We have people from Madison, Des Moines, Minneapolis," Romano said. "It's serious in that way but we don't want to make it so serious that you're nervous about or upset or anxious about it. It's meant for people to get out of the basement, get out of the garage, come on and have some fun."

Toy modeling is becoming less and less popular these days despite seeing a lot more models in the show now than when they began. Still the hobby continues to expand and grow with the introduction of new paints and technology like 3D printers. The skill at which people can produce models are expanding and becoming more impressive.

"More people are now getting to the point where the skill levels are going in a way higher," Romano said. "The models are getting bigger, we're building fewer, but the skills that you see in every model, it's getting better and better."

One of the modelers, Troy Deal, traveled from Wisconsin to show his model cars. Unlike a lot of the new and shiny looking car models, Deal focuses on making his models look like old junkyard cars.

"My grandfather ran an auto repair shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin, which is my hometown, and I remember going with my grandfather to pick up junk cars," Deal said. "These are the kinds of cars that I remember as a youngster."

Deal has been making these types of model cars since 1976 and has found many different techniques to make sure the cars look as realistic and distressed as he can. His friend, Paul Burpee, and Deal have learned to make these junker cars as realistic as possible and have learned things from other modelers and each other throughout the years.

"You go to these model car shows and they're all beautiful, showroom perfect, sometimes you're even too fake or too beautiful," Deal said. "I appreciate that, but everybody and their grandpa does that. I'd rather go on the other end of the spectrum and build garbage to open up other people's minds to say 'hey, maybe it's alright to build junk.' To open other people's perspectives. Be different. Be yourself."