By Trisha
While I often get inspiration for puppets from various kinds of media in all of its consumable formats be they virtual or tactile, I like to try and draw also from exhibited sources, sometimes the more unconventional or lesser recognized the better.
Awhile back I conscripted a pal to go suss out the Hamilton Toy Museum (not to be confused with the Hamilton Children’s Museum). Located in a storefront just east of Ottawa street, the museum contains a broad scope of toys and games from various decades and has the distinction of being an interactive museum—which is to say that if you love playing with Lego you should probably go check it out. Conceptually, I think the idea is great and but perhaps right now they are hampered by their lack of space as the “exhibition” portion is rather cramped by virtue of the necessary allotment of space given to play tables. Still a lot of great eye candy and even a few puppets tucked into the mix.
After our time there, I coerced my companion into going to the very first Tim Horton’s, located nearby on Ottawa street. The inaugural first iconic Canadian doughnut shop recently got a rebuild and houses the Timmies museum up on the second floor. A pretty campy and charming tour through the decades of the franchise, the museum features different staff uniforms, memorabilia from various decades, a staged counter of an older Tim’s (basically the kind of presentation I remember from being a kid—remember when they sold pies?) and incidental time markers such as popular album covers of the decade. Needless to say, it was great place to find all manner of Timmie’s merch of their seemingly now abandoned mascot that I intended to give the finger puppet treatment to, Mr T Timbit.
Puppet-A-Go-Go 