Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor
"Scores!" Says He: July 2026
Pezamania 35: Where There's Smoke, There's Pez
Pez Poetry
A Special Project to Celebrate 25 Years of Pezhead Monthly

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor | top

Hello and welcome to Pezhead Monthly!

This issue will be a combined August/September issue, both because it’s quite packed with Pez content and also because I have some upcoming travel that will keep me busy over the next month or so. But I’ll definitely be mentioning at least one of these travel destinations in the next issue, which will be online in early October.

Looking back on July, the big Pez event was Pezamania 35 in Independence, Ohio. This was another huge convention and it seems to get bigger and more exciting every year. I was able to attend Pezamania 35 and talk all about my conventions and scores elsewhere in this issue.

In August, I attended a convention called Fan Expo in Chicago. This was not a Pez event per se, but I brought a little something that made it a Pez party of sorts. I’ll have more details on this in the next issue in October.

Looking ahead to September, many in the Pez community will have the pleasure of experiencing Pez on the River, which is a Pez convention in Winona, Minnesota that will be celebrating its 13th year in 2026. Sadly, I have not had the chance to attend this convention in the past and it’s looking nearly certain that I won’t be doing so this year either. I really hope to make it out there one day! Sandy and Cheryl are known for putting on a fun convention and I am sure this will be another one for the books. I hope all who are able to attend have a great time!

Looking further ahead to October, there will be at least 2 Pez gatherings: the next Indiana Pez gathering, known as IN Crowd, and the Pezylvania gathering, IN Crowd willl take place on October 3 in Westfield, Indiana, which is just a short drive from my home. Pezylvania will take place on October 10, and as always in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. I am thrilled to announce that I’ll be attending both IN Crowd and Pezylvania this year! I have yet to miss an IN Crowd and I hope that I never will. As for Pezylvania, this will actually be my first time attending this gathering and I'm pretty excited. It is quite a drive away, but with the aid of some good tunes, hopefully some nice weather, and perhaps a chicken wing or two along the way, it’s basically just around the corner. I look forward to meeting at least a couple of Pezheads at Pezylavania that I have not yet met in person before, along with I’m sure many Pez pals that I’ve seen at Pezamania and elsewhere.

Back here at home, thanks mainly to my scores at Pezamania, my current unique Pez dispenser count stands at about 2900. I always add the asterisk here that I consider POP+Pez dispensers as unique Pez dispensers, which I know not everyone does. Not factoring POP+Pez into the total, my count is closer to 2600. This is still quite a lot of Pez that I’ve added to my collection over the past 32 years!

Also, I am a bit behind on a few aspects of maintaining my Pez collection. While my spreadsheet is mostly current, I still need to catch up on taking photos of my collection to add and categorize on my phone and computer. There are also some things I need to do in my Pez room to make it presentable again. It’s looking like there could be guests coming over later in September, so I think that will motivate me to get the room put together (even as I continue to add new items that I don’t quite know where to put in the room).

This issue of Pezhead Monthly kicks off with a cover image that Pezzifies Sir Elton John’s album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” to commemorate Pezamania 35. If you look closely, Sir Elton is holding a Marilyn Monroe Pez dispenser. This is an homage to both his song about Marilyn, “Candle In The Wind,” and the Pez song parody “Candy Loaded In,” which is featured in this Pezhead Monthly YouTube video. Speaking of Pezamania 35, it’s time once again for another epic recap of my adventures at the World’s Largest Gathering of Pez Collectors. Also in this issue is some Pez Poetry and a rundown of my July scores, from Pezamania and beyond. Lastly, I put together a special project to celebrate 25 years of Pezhead Monthly that includes a custom Pez dispenser, a custom candy pack, and one of eight Pezhead Monthly Fun Facts. I share some words and photos about this project in this issue.

Thanks as always for reading Pezhead Monthly. Take care and see you in October!

Joe Durrant
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com

P.S. Did you miss last month's issue? You can still read it here. To search the full Pezhead Monthly archives, hop on over to the archive page, where you can browse by feature, Pez Poetry Slam, or issue. There's also a Google search bar to help you search the content across the site. And hey, maybe you would like to submit some words, photos, artwork, or videos to Pezhead Monthly to be featured in an upcoming issue? That would be great! Check out the submission details here.

"Scores!" Says He: July 2026 | top

July had, by far, the biggest amount of Pez scores of the year for me. This is pretty much the case every year, thanks in large part to the wonder that is Pezamania. (My extensive recap of Pezamania 35 directly follows this article.)

Before I get to the Pezamania scores, I also got a few scores in July that were not from Pezamania. Most of these came from Pez.com. This included 3 new exclusive dispensers: the Red, White, and Blue Duck celebrating the US Independence Day and two soccer balls that captured the excitement of the moment with the World Cup (one with “Goooaaaal” on its stem and one with “One Team One Dream” on its stem). I also picked up from Pez.com the newest addition to the Paw Patrol series, Rex, which was previously only available in Europe.

From Pez Collector’s News (PCN), I received the newest issue of PCN in my mailbox (Aug/Sep 2026). Among its many standard articles and features, this issue of PCN Includes articles about Project Q (a mail program from Pez in the 1990s that featured Pez not sold in stores) and making a custom 8-Ball dispenser, as well as an article about wall displays. This issue of PCN also includes a cover by my Pez pal, photographer and digital artist Barry Boltinloaf.

From the awesome Chad Foster, I picked up three more of his custom light-up Bat signal dispensers. I already had 2 different variations of the Burton and Nolan Bat signals. In July, I added the Bat signals from the 1966 TV show (along with the Burton one, this is my favorite), the 1997 movie “Batman & Robin,” and the 2016 movie “Batman vs Superman.” Here is a picture of all of my 7 Chad Foster Bat signals, lit up and ready to summon the Dark Knight to action. (Chad also sent a cool piece of Batman and Robin climbing the Batrope to glue on to the stem of the 1966 Bat signal, but I have not had a chance to do this yet.)

Here is a picture of my non-Pezamania scores from July. You can click it for a larger view.

And now, buckle up buttercup, because I’m about to run down all of my scores from Pezamania 35! This is perhaps my biggest Pezamania haul yet in the 25 years I’ve been attending the convention. What follows is a list-type accounting of my scores. The extensive Pezamania 35 recap (directly below this article) has additional stories behind some of these scores, along with some more photos.

For starters, I picked up a bunch of scores relating to Batman Pez, some of which were not actually dispensers. This included 35 custom painted Batman Pez (which, while technically not Pezamania scores, were picked up in a Facebook sale while at Pezamania), another custom painted Pez picked up at the Saturday floor show from Joe Paravati, a custom Lego Batman (that I might customize with a Bat logo later) from the one and only Larry Mason, a couple of mini Batman Pez figurines from fellow Batman Pez collector Pamella Ruffhead, a Batman Pez greeting card from Karla Bailey, and an incredible acrylic lighted Batman plate (with remote and changing colors!) from Sue Davis. I also made some of my own custom Batmans at the convention with the help of the transluscent green and pink stems from 2 of the new Disney Parks dispensers (and a Magic Eraser). The big Batman Pezamania score, and the biggest score of the convention, was one of the 3 very rare POP+Pez, Golden Batman!

Here is a picture of my Batman Pezamania 35 scores. You can click it for a larger view.

But my Pezamania scores were not just about Batman! Not by a long shot.

My convention-exclusive scores included the Pezamania 35 Attendee, Premium, and Prize dispensers, along with one of the less common variants of the Lounge Lizards 2026 truck dispenser. (The Pezamania attendee box had a bunch of other goodies that are described in the Pezamania 35 recap below.)

My vintage Pezamania scores included Santa B (completing my entire Santa series except for some Misfit/Glew color variations), Popeye A (leaving only Popeye C to complete my Popeye series), and a Raven with red beak and yellow glasses.

My new (and new-ish) release Pezamania scores included the Bosnia Heart, the 2026 European Easter Egg, the two new Minions (Henry and James), the 4 new Disney Parks (Winking Stitch, Ariel, Tiana, and Orange Bird), and the Disney Parks Teacup (along with a spinner that makes it spin, just like the ride).

My somewhat older (but still non-vintage) Pezamania scores included the set of 6 pink and black Glew trucks, the red hair Aral Pez Boy, the Lost in Space Giant, and the Peter Pez Bank.

I picked up a nice assortment of promotional Pez items, most of which were haulers (Duane Reade, the Cockta set of two, Safeway LIFE, Carrs Safeway LIFE, Vons LIFE, and Randalls LIFE). I also scored the Compaq Penguin!

I picked up a couple of cool custom Pez as well: an Oreo Double Stuf and a Joe Cool hauler.

There were also some other fun additions, such as a Pez wedge from Joe What! (to prop open one of my autographed Pez dispensers, a German Pez ad, and a mini-puzzle from Pezamania 23. The puzzle uses the graphic from the 1980s Pez superhero ad that appeared in several comic books (and yes, this may and probably should be considered another Batman Pez score!)

Here is a picture of my (non-Batman) Pezamania 35 scores. You can click it for a larger view.

Pezamania 35: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Pez | top

July 2026 was the time to add yet another Pez brick in the wall. The occasion was none other than Pezamania, the world’s largest gathering of Pez collectors in the town of Independence, Ohio, which is in the Cleveland area. Now in its 35th year, Pezamania continues to be an essential part of the hobby and the best place to connect with fellow Pez pals. It is a can’t miss event that provides the opportunity to see, learn about, and buy more Pez in a single place than anywhere else on the planet, dare I say the universe.

Pezamania is now in its 4th year with hosts Landon Proctor and Morgan Rhinehart, along with their respective spouses Christene and Jeffrey, as well as a dedicated and helpful team behind them. This year’s convention theme was “Building a Legacy Brick By Brick.”

I had the opportunity to attend Pezamania 35 and, as with the last 23 times I’ve attended this event, I had a truly great time. I’d like to share a rundown and photos of my experiences there.

Before I get to the convention itself, here’s a quick note on my Pez playlist. This is a list of songs I cue up in my car when I’m about an hour away from the hotel. The songs either mention Pez directly or bring Pez to mind (such as “I Want Candy” or “Sugar Sugar”). The song that kicks off this playlist, and that never fails to truly get me excited for Pezamania, is “Cleveland Rocks.” “Cleveland Rocks” was one of the theme songs for the TV show “The Drew Carey Show,” so this year, the song also brought to mind when I met one of that show’s stars, Diedrich Bader, a few months ago. (I even wrote a poem about that experience in the June 2026 issue.) It really does all tie together!

Also, I guess now might be a good time to explain the title of this recap, “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Pez”. Due to the Canadian wildfires that were happening at the time of the convention, the air around the hotel area (and in a lot of the US Midwest, for that matter) was extremely smoky. It was very odd, sort of like a fog, and the air quality was pretty bad. I managed to avoid most of it by staying in the hotel for the better part of the event. I’d also like to add that this is a little ironic given that Pez was originally developed as an anti-smoking tool!

Okay, now back to the convention. It’s fair to say that Pezamania seems to get bigger and bigger every year. In recent years, the events have extended from Wednesday afternoon all the way through Saturday night.

With this in mind, I got to that wondrous Holiday Inn on Tuesday this year, which is my earliest arrival day yet. This turned out to be a great decision. It was a lot quieter on Tuesday (although there was still some decent activity in the hotel hallways), which allowed me to get a head start on setting up my room and have it good to go starting earlier on Wednesday. I think I’ll be coming to Pezamania on Tuesday, or maybe even Monday, from this point on.

Although I rarely have a lot to sell out of my room besides my extras and some Pezhead Monthly goodies from previous years, I always try to make my room a memorable experience for visitors. This starts with putting some of my Pez poems in the hallway next to my room door. I also always offer free Pezhead Monthly (plastic) coins that were given away as swag in previous years. I am up to 5 years of coins now, and this was the first thing visitors saw when they came in my room. I was glad to see so many folks take me up on this free offer!

I also set up a digital photo frame with photos and quotes from the vast Pezhead Monthly archives. These cycle through at random and it’s always nice when they get a smile or laugh from visitors.

Then there is the TAP ME button. Although I set it up in an area that’s hard to miss, with a sign that says “TAP ME!” in front of it, I’d say only 10-15% of visitors actually tap the button. Maybe some people are afraid of what may happen when they tap it? But the goal is never to frighten, only to amuse and delight. The button always sits behind a dispenser and plays a quote related to that dispenser. In previous years, the dispenser has been Jack Sparrow, Darth Vader, and a Witch, among others. This year, it was a combination of the Princess Leia and mini R2D2 dispensers. The TAP ME button (featuring the voice of my lovely wife, Jessi, who was not there in person) played the following quote:

Wednesday morning showed again why coming on Tuesday was the right choice. That morning, I got a Facebook message from my good Pez pal, Karen, who lives a short distance away from the convention hotel. She mentioned that she saw a local Facebook Marketplace post that featured 35 custom painted Batman Pez dispensers (with a display stand included, no less!), and thought I would like to know about it. And she was darn right, I very much wanted to know about it! I thanked Karen for letting me know and, very briefly, considered not jumping at the sale. But that moment quickly passed and I messaged the seller that I was interested. It turns out that the seller was none other than Debbie Oberacher, who just so happened to sell me several of my first custom painted Batman Pez in 2015, at Pezamania 25! (Fun fact! Pezamania 25 was one of the very few Pez conventions I attended but did not write a recap about, because Pezhead Monthly was on a hiatus at that time.) So I bought the Batman Pez, hopped in the car, and 20 minutes later had the goods in hand! Although I did not get a chance to thank Debbie in person, as the sale was a porch pickup, I did message her about that previous sale 11 years ago and she also remembered it well.

And that’s the story of how my first Pezamania 35 score, and one of the biggest of the convention for me, did not even take place at Pezamania! But when you think about it, Pezamania isn’t just a place, it’s a state of mind. (There’s a poem in there somewhere that I may get around to writing one day!)

Back at the hotel, I picked up my registration attendee box. As with the previous Pezamanias hosted by Morgan and Landon, the attendee box was chock full of cool stuff. The box itself was designed to look like a LEGO box you’d find at a store. Included inside the box was an attendee name badge and lanyard, attendee dispenser, t-shirt, pin, sticker, patch, bag, pen, custom LEGO figure, and a game card for Matchamania (which is played on Friday night). And, since I opted for the premium registration, I also got a custom Lego Pez clown set, a premium pin, a premium dispenser that featured a LEGO-style head, and an extra Matchamania game card. Tying the whole box together was the Pezamania program, which included a detailed breakdown of the agenda, some games, and info on the Pezamania charity, Gliding Stars of Toledo. Also, I was very honored and appreciative to have one of my Pez poems, “Another Brick In The Pez Wall,” featured in the program. This poem is also included in the Pez Poetry feature in this month’s issue of Pezhead Monthly.

Later on Wednesday afternoon, I picked up my biggest score of the convention, at least in monetary terms but also much more than that. And this wasn’t even a vintage dispenser. Astute readers of Pezhead Monthly, and those who know me elsewhere in the hobby, know that I am somewhat of a fan of Batman Pez in all its forms. An entire wall and closet of my Pez room is dedicated to my loose, carded, packaged, and custom Batman Pez, and I’m hoping to get it updated and ready for showing in the next couple of months. But a few pieces have eluded me in recent years, mainly due to their high prices. This would be the 3 rare POP+Pez Batmans: Gold, Zebra, and Rainbow. Thanks to the kindness of some fellow Pezheads who were looking out for me, and a gracious seller who was open to a lower (but still significant) price, I am pleased to share that I scored a GOLD BATMAN POP+ PEZ! This is so incredible that I was at a loss for words just holding it in my hands. What made it extra meaningful is that this was once in the collection of Kathleen Eovino, a well-known and beloved member of the Pez community who passed away a few years ago. I knew Kathleen from many years at Pezamania and it means a lot that this came from her. I hope to eventually get the Zebra and Rainbow POP+ Pez, but for now, I am beyond thrilled to add this wonderful piece to my collection. Here is a picture!

The only downside to this awesome score was that it was Wednesday afternoon and, between this and the 35 custom painted Batmans I picked up earlier in the day, I had already gone through over two-thirds of my entire budget for the convention! Fortunately, thanks to the ATM at the hotel, my budget got enough of a boost to keep me rolling and I did not need to sell that kidney after all.

On Wednesday night, after going medieval on some rotisserie chicken at the nearby Harry’s Steakhouse, I got back to the hotel and wandered into the Opening Game Night about 20 minutes into the event. I wasn’t planning on going to this event, but man I’m glad I did. This was a fun and effective way to get to know about other attendees, even those that you may have seen in years past. Attendees were given a game card and a LEGO brick, and the idea was that we needed to find someone else who fit various descriptions in the squares on the card. The descriptions include first time attendees, someone who shares the same favorite color as you, and people with various shapes of LEGO bricks. Here is a picture of my (almost) completed card, before I played a couple of games to get the last 2 squares knocked out.

Then, after playing some games (one of my games of choice was the foam axe throw, which I was surprisingly good at and which also brought to mind the same game on a larger scale at the very fun Michigan 2022 Pez Convention, we traded in our game cards for tickets for giveaways. I did not win any prizes, but I sure had a good time doing it!

Towards the end of Opening Game Night, I had to do a double- no, make that triple- no, make that quintuple take when I noticed none other than my Pez pal Josh Bales! This was by far the biggest surprise of the convention for me, and a welcome one at that. I had not seen Josh since March 2022 at his third Pez Informational Gathering (PIG), also known as PIGPIGPIG, in West Chester, Ohio. (I also “attended” his PIG4ALL convention the next year, but only in a pre-recorded video since I couldn’t be there in person.) To be completely honest, I thought Josh may have gotten out of the hobby and I was not sure if I’d ever have the chance to see him again.

I was only able to say a quick hello to Josh at Opening Game Night, but had the chance for a longer chat the next day. It was really good to catch up with him and to see him back at the convention and having a good time. I was glad to get his take on the situation with his final PIG convention, PIG Hi 5, in 2024. To summarize, Josh decided to move PIG Hi 5 from earlier in the year (when the PIG had previously taken place) out to June, and specifically to the same weekend that the Michigan 2024 Pez Convention was presumed to take place. (Although Michigan Pez Convention hosts Jim and Jody Blaine did not officially announce the 2024 dates before Josh announced PIG Hi 5, it was widely expected that they were planning on that same weekend based on previous years). The end result was that the Michigan Pez convention did in fact take place that same weekend, but the PIG Hi 5 did not end up happening, at least in person at the hotel. However, all PIG Hi 5 registrants, both attendee and absentee, received a convention package consisting of a t-shirt and a dispenser, and Josh noted that those who registered as attendees also got some fabulous prizes.

I was disappointed about how things ended up because it would have been nice to have had the chance to attend both the PIG Hi 5 and Michigan conventions in person, and ideally on different weekends. But even if they were on the same weekend, I had a serious plan laid out for that weekend to attend both conventions, which seemed doable since they were only 4 hours apart. (Even though I registered as absentee for PIG Hi 5, my hope was that I would still be able to attend that convention in person.) Ultimately this didn’t really matter, because that weekend ended up not working out for me anyway and I did not attend either convention.

All of that being said, I don’t harbor any ill will towards Josh and I don’t feel personally slighted by how the PIG Hi 5 convention played out. And, it was interesting to finally hear his perspective on PIG Hi 5 and other things after all this time. I definitely have a better understanding of where he was coming from, and why things happened the way that they did, than I did before. And, Josh told me if he had to do it all over again, he would not change a thing.

I appreciate and care about Josh. He has always been a kind, good, and funny friend to me, and he is known for his infectious energy and sense of showmanship. He also gave me the opportunity to perform some of my Pez poetry at his PIG conventions and I will always be grateful to him for that. It was great to see Josh and I definitely look forward to seeing him again down the road.

Pretty much the rest of my Thursday was spent either room hopping and selling out of my room.
In one room, I stumbled on a series of, hands down, the best deals I have ever seen at a Pez convention, and probably the best deals I’ll ever see for that matter. I picked up a lot of stuff in that room, including some rare promo trucks, a Lost In Space Giant Pez, and a set of Glew trucks, among others, for prices that were so low that I could not believe it. It was just incredible and felt a bit like a waking dream. And it was also a case of being in the right place at the right time. I am sure there were so many other times where I have missed this opportunity. So, I am thankful for the experience and if it never happens again, that’s fine by me.

Friday started on a bit of a disappointing note, as my annual trip to the nearby Hot Dog Diner in Parma was a bit lacking in the quality department compared to previous years. But I did get a free reward for next time, so I got that going for me, which is nice. After lunch, I popped into the giant candy warehouse BA Sweetie and was astonished by how empty the Pez selection was. I’ve never seen it that empty, and it was in noticeably better shape a month earlier when I popped in there on the way to a visit to Western New York. Here is a picture of the Pez "selection" this year at BA Sweetie. I hope it's back to its usual robust variety next year!

It wasn’t all bad news at BA Sweetie, though. I actually managed to come up with a Pez score there! This was a nice black Pez t-shirt with a Raven and a Yappy Dog on it.

Back at the hotel, more room hopping and selling ensued. Also, I got my picture taken at the photo booth and shortly after that, I was grateful for my Pez pal Lindsey, who took my picture with this year’s giant Pez mascot cutout. The mascot was quite appropriate for the convention’s theme, wearing a construction worker’s outfit and holding a very LEGO-ish brick.

As the day progressed, I experienced my second big surprise of the convention, right there in my hotel room. A gentleman with a long white beard and his family came into my room. As he was looking over my Pez stuff, we got to talking and I came to find out that this man was none other than Bill Clark, one of the hosts of the very first Pezamania in 1990! Bill was a really nice guy. He talked about his friendship with his co-host Rich Geary, who I never had the opportunity to meet and who sadly passed away last year before his planned trip to Pezamania 34. He also gave me a couple of neat items: a German Pez ad and a puzzle from Pezamania 23. The puzzle was especially cool because the image on it was the classic Pez superhero ad that was included in many comics in the 80s, including the one and only Batman! This will be a welcome addition to my Batman Pez collection for sure. It’s also interesting that this came from Pezamania 23, because I definitely attended that convention but I don’t recall seeing it there. So, it was a welcome surprise and I suspect Bill knew I would really like it since I had my various Batman scores from the convention on display on my desk in the room. Here is a picture of me and Bill!

Friday night eventually came along, and with it what I’d consider the main event of the convention: Family Fun Night. It’s the one event of the convention that is attended by pretty much everyone, and I always look forward to it.

As the silent auctions were already underway, hosts Landon and Morgan kicked things off by thanking everyone for coming out and thanking the Pezamania staff for all of their hard work. There was also a moment of silence for a few Pezheads who could no longer be with us this year.

From there, we jumped into the games. The first type of games we played were “Family Feud” style games, where we had to guess the most popular answer from a survey sent to Pezheads before Pezamania began. When it came time for our table to play, the prompt was “Name something that decreases the value of a Pez dispenser.” Not only did our table guess the correct answer (melt marks), but we won the tiebreaker, which was determined by whoever got the closest to the number of people who responded to that answer in the survey. (The number was 30 and our guess was 33.) Everyone at our table got a prize, which was a custom Pez dispenser with a Pezamania LEGO mini figure on top!

Other game types included the big mainstay game Matchamania, which is sort of like bingo using playing cards, and a particularly challenging game of Pez Trivia Bingo. For Matchamania, my Pez pal Karen (who alerted me to that Batman Facebook sale) won, and I think she was the only one at our table to do so. For Pez Trivia Bingo, each table had their own custom bingo card, and when a trivia question was announced, we had to guess the correct answer on our card (assuming the correct answer is even there). The topics were generally about Pez in general, Pezamania specifically, or LEGO. There were multiple answers by tables who thought they won, only to have been told that they did not win and ended up getting shamed by the whole room. (This was a lot more fun than it sounds here.) Eventually, a table did win. Spoiler alert, it was not our table.

There was also a nice update from the Pezamania charity, Gliding Stars of Toledo, that they were finally cleared to get their own locker room built. This should be done by next Pezamania, so I look forward to hearing about it then!

Then came the traditional announcing of the new Pezhead Of The Year (POTY). For this announcement, all previous POTYs came up to the front of the room. Once again taking the cake here was the one and only Tom Zellmer, who took the convention theme of “building a legacy brick by brick” in a hilarious new direction by dressing up as the construction worker from the iconic band The Village People. Here is a picture!

Before the 2026 POTY was announced, Larry Mason, the 2025 POTY, came up to say a few words. He was unable to attend Pezamania last year when he won, and there was also a technical problem that didn’t even allow him to address the room remotely. It was really nice to see Larry get recognized in person for all of the selfless and incredible things that he does for the Pez community.

The 2026 POTY was then announced as none other than Sue Davis. I’ve known Sue for quite a while over the years at Pez conventions. She is a fantastic and nice person, and very knowledgeable about the hobby. She was recognized in particular for her contributions to the Minnesota and Pez on the River conventions and also for, in her own, quiet way, making a big impact in the lives of so many Pezheads. This was a well deserved honor for sure and I congratulate Sue on being the newest POTY!

Throughout the night there were also several auctions of some pretty cool Pez pieces, including some nice artwork. I believe that the biggest auction was for several vintage Pez in cello, which was won for the low, low price of $3100! There were also some silent auctions going on throughout the night. I placed bids for a couple of them but ended up not winning. That’s okay, there’s always next year!

The last announcement of Family Fun Night was the theme for next year’s Pezamania. We were all finally allowed to open the envelopes at our tables, which were filled with kazoos and the theme announcement. And that theme is… The Roaring Twenties! This will be a big event for sure, especially given that 2027 marks the 100th year since the creation of Pez! I can’t wait. Landon and Morgan had a bit more to say about it, as well as a few more giveaways and some closing remarks, but I missed almost all of what they were saying because of the aforementioned kazoos. Thankfully, Kazooapalooza 2026 did not continue in the hotel hallways (at least not on my wing of the second floor) and it was possible to get something approaching a good night’s sleep.

Saturday arrived and with it the big floor show, which in recent years has been free to the public (although convention attendees get early access with their badges). Every year I somehow manage to have a bit of remaining money available for the floor show, and thankfully this was the case again this year. I picked up stuff that I was either considering during room hopping, or stuff that I somehow missed at that time. This included a nice assortment of vintage and current dispensers, a couple of custom dispensers, and even the Disney Parks teacup with an acompanying spinner to make it rotate, just like the ride does. I’ve learned in the past that the floor show is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s quite common to make multiple rounds because there’s so much Pez in that single ballroom. The addition of the food truck outside the ballroom was a smart idea, and enabled me to take a brief break to inhale some chicken tenders before diving back into the action.

Also at the floor show, I received from convention co-host Morgan my prize for being the first to correctly answer a Facebook trivia question (actually, tied for first with Marian Devlin). The question was, who is the only person to have attended all Pezamanias to date? The answer was none other than one of my favorite Pez people, Mr. John LaSpina. My prize was a wooden Pezamania LEGO figure. Very nice!

I then said my goodbyes to those who would not be staying for the Saturday evening activities. There were lots of smiles, handshakes, hugs, laughs, and see-you-next-years. This part of the convention is always a little sad, but it’s also nice to know that I’ll be seeing many of these people again sometime soon.

I spent a bit of time on Saturday afternoon packing my room, taking care to wrap my scores securely. Then, thanks to a hot tip from my Pez pal Stephen, I made my way to a wonderful new store just down the road from the hotel called Sweets and Geeks. This place was just out of this world and I’ll definitely be going back there next year. It had several life size statues of Batman, Spider-Man, Mario, a Stormtrooper, and more. There were tons of refrigerated craft sodas, trading cards, Funko Pops, games, toys, candy, and other snacks. And oh boy, were there Pez dispensers. The store cleverly included some dispensers with other items from their fandom, such as Lilo and Stitch, Sonic The Hedgehog, and Star Wars, but also had a quite decent dedicated Pez display (got it, got it, got it, got it…).

The evening activities kicked off with a performance by comedy hypnotist Elijah Edwards. It was a unique and entertaining show and it was fun to watch a few of my fellow Pezheads get hypnotized. One of them later described it to me as being aware of what they were doing when they were under the spell, but not having control over it. That sort of sounds like what happens to me when I learn of a new release on Pez.com!

After this performance was the final event of Pezamania, Lounge Lizards. Attendees traded in tickets for an exclusive custom truck made for the event (picked blindly from a box). Some trucks were more common than others, and I think I picked up one of the more uncommon ones, which was nice. The event also featured a raffle, where people who bought tickets earlier (or at the event) picked out a prize of their choice when their ticket number was called. The earlier your number was called, the better selection of prizes there were to choose from. Alas, as per usual I didn’t win any prizes, but it was still a good chance to hang out with my Pez pals one last time at the convention.

After some final goodbyes, just like that, Pezamania was over.

I’d like to share a quick note here about swag, which is something that Pezheads have been doing for quite a while now at conventions and gatherings. This involves making something homemade to trade with others who do the same. The homemade item is sometimes related to the convention’s theme, sometimes not. Starting last year, Pezamania even created a dedicated event just for swag trading. This year, the event expanded to a larger room and was even better.

I started making swag for Pezamania 30 and have been doing it pretty consistently for the conventions and gatherings I’ve attended since. It often takes a while for me to put together and inevitably involves a lot of printing and cutting, a lot of trial and error, and also a lot of hand cramps. One of these days I really need to invest in a Cricut or 3D printer to help with swag.

I took a break from swag for Pezamania this year. However, it wasn’t to rest my weary eyes and wrists. Instead, I went into overdrive to work on something even bigger: a special project to commemorate 25 years of Pezhead Monthly that included a custom dispenser, custom candy pack, and a series of “Fun Facts” about Pezhead Monthly. I provide more details and pictures about this project elsewhere in this issue, but here is a picture of the final assembled product.

Although I did trade a limited number of these dispensers at the swag event, the vast majority I made were given away to various people at the convention (and a few who were unable to make the convention) who have meant a lot to me over the years I’ve attended Pezamania and other conventions and gatherings, and/or fellow creators and people who have encouraged and inspired me to think “outside the dispenser” for Pezhead Monthly or just Pez in general.

If you are reading this and are disappointed that I did not give you one of these pucks at Pezamania, please understand that it was very difficult for me to narrow down the recipients, since I only had a limited number of dispensers to give away. Even now as I am writing this, I can think of 4 or 5 other Pezheads who I would have been thrilled to give this special item to.

And lastly, a big part of Pezamania is the scores. If I did not set a personal record for my largest amount of scores this year, then I at least came pretty darn close. I’ve talked about many of these previously in this recap, and I share the complete list and pictures of all my Pezamania scores elsewhere in this issue, but I’d like to highlight a few of my favorites here.

Here are the vintage scores I picked up from Pezamania, including a Popeye A, Santa B, and Raven. For Popeye, I already had Popeye B and will be keeping an eye out for Popeye C at a convention of Facebook sale post down the road. (The other dispensers in the Popeye series, Brutus and Olive Oyl, are a bit more pricey and may need to wait a bit). For Santa B, this finally completes my Santa series, not counting some of the color variations for Santa D. As for the Raven, although I already had a Raven with yellow beak and red glasses, and I tend to shy away from collecting variations in vintage dispensers (as this can lead down some pretty deep and expensive rabbit holes), I couldn’t resist this variation with yellow glasses and a red beak. (This also brought to mind my Pez poem “The Raven Pez,” the t-shirt I got at BA Sweetie, and my beloved cat from years ago, Raven.)

Here are a few of my favorites from the Batman Pez items that I picked up at Pezamania. This was the Batmanniest (new word, no regrets) Pezamania I’ve ever had, so much so that one of the pictures in the Score rundown above is entirely Batman Pez! Kicking things off is my biggest score of the convention, the Gold Batman POP+Pez. There’s an acrylic, lighted plate (that also changes color and has a remote control!) that includes a Batman with Cape and reads “Pez Makes me Smile,” made by none other than 2026 POTY Sue Davis. There’s also a LEGO Batman custom dispenser from Larry Mason, a couple of mini Batmans made by fellow Batman Pez collector Pamella Ruffhead (who also made this cool, and delicious, chocolate in the shape of LEGO bricks), and a couple of homemade custom Batmans on translucent stems (made from the new Arial and Tiana Disney Parks dispensers). Honestly, it’s hard to narrow down to my favorite Batman Pezamania scores because I loved them all!

Here are 6 of the special Glew trucks trucks I picked up in the room with the crazy deals that I mentioned earlier. These are my first ever “C” trucks and I really dig the black and pink combination! I highly doubt I’ll ever get this kind of great deal again, so this may be both the start and the end of my C truck collection.

Here are a couple of fun custom dispensers. One is an Oreo Double Stuf cookie that looks so real and delicious, I’ve actively thought about eating it more than once (before deciding that might not be a good idea). The other is a custom Joe Cool hauler made by my (other) Pez pal Karen. I have a small but growing army of Joe Cool Pez, and this is a welcome addition for sure.

And lastly, here are the 4 newest Disney Parks dispensers. I really like what Disney is doing with this series overall, which includes both stem variations of existing dispensers (some with translucent stems) and some unique characters like the Hatbox Ghost and the Orange Bird that are not (yet) available for wide release. All of these have “Disney Parks” on the stem and so far I have kept them all on the card.

Thanks again to Landon and Morgan, their spouses Christene and Jeffrey, and the Pezamania staff for all of your time and effort in putting together such an awesome convention. And thanks again for including my Pez poem in the Pezamania 35 program! As always, Pezamania was incredibly fun, well thought out, and offered something for everyone. It was so nice to see many of my Pez pals again (and some for the first time) and also to pick up such a nice variety and quality of Pez scores. There’s absolutely nowhere in the world quite like Pezamania. It can be overwhelming sometimes for sure, but I really do consider it the beating heart of the Pez collecting hobby and community and I hope it always will be. I look forward to going to Pezamania every year, and am already anticipating a really great time at Pezamania 36 next year, as we’ll celebrate 100 years of Pez.

And thanks again to Pezamania! Year by year and brick, the Pez legacy keeps on growing.

Pez Poetry | top

Another Pez Brick In The Wall

Hooray for one, hooray for all!
Another Pez brick in the wall.
Once minuscule, it’s standing tall,
And it is only growing.

With ev’ry Pez dispenser’s load,
And ev’ry online score bestowed,
And ev’ry Pez found on the road,
Those bricks just keep on showing.

At all the gatherings and conventions,
This awesome Austrian invention
Keeps building with a sweet intention,
Its pace is never slowing.

And it all started with one brick,
One splendid spring, one quick flicked kick.
From there, its destiny was picked,
Expanding, everflowing.

The next brick in that wall is you,
Your love of Pez, each day renewed.
Together, Pezheads through and through
Will keep the story going.

Spidey

There once was a Pezhead named Spidey,
A collector both humble and mighty.
With his wrist and finesse,
He slung webs and Pez
Around town both daily and nightly.

Pez Haiku #202

Speaking of epics,
You Odyssey the Pez at
Pezamania.

A Special Project to Celebrate 25 Years of Pezhead Monthly | top

Twenty-five years ago, in August 2011, Pezhead Monthly published its first issue (including a Pezamania recap that was noticeably shiorter than this year's recap!). Since then, except for a few brief hiatuses now and then, Pezhead Monthly has been “thinking outside the dispenser” with personal recaps and photos of Pez experiences, along with various types of creative odes to Pez such as poetry, photo parodies, videos, song parodies, quote parodies, and more. There have also been a few contributors to Pezhead Monthly over the years, and I am very grateful to them all! (If you would like to contribute to a future issue, click here for the submission policy.)

In recent years, Pezhead Monthly has extended beyond computer and phone screens to include projects for giveaways, trade, and sale, mainly at Pez conventions and gatherings. These have included custom coins, candy packs, and dispensers, framed photo parodies, magnets, and more.

Up until a few months ago, the most ambitious of these Pezhead Monthly “extracurricular” projects was a Pez parody of the classic Bruce Springsteen album “Born in the USA”, which included a photo parody of the album cover, a parody of the track listing, and liner notes that contained Pez song parodies of five songs on that album.

To celebrate Pezhead Monthly's 25 year anniversary, I wanted to do something similar in scope, if not bigger.

I started with the idea of a custom dispenser. For the head, I wanted a puck that I could attach a custom sticker to. For this, I enlisted the help of one of the many talented and kind folks we have in the Pez community, and to my mind one of the very best, Mr. Larry Mason. For the stem, I had plenty of extras lying around that I separated from the heads, I was further inspired by a recent convention dispenser from Pez on the River that featured a wrap-around label. The idea for my Pezhead Monthly custom dispenser was to pay homage to the iconic “PEZ” on the sides of the standard dispenser stem, only instead with “PHM” as a shorthand for "Pezhead Monthly.” I also included a note on the front of the stem wrap that read “Pezhead Monthly: 25 Years of Thinking Outside the Dispenser”, and the Pezhead Monthly website address on the back. Other details on the stem wrap included adding “25 Years” where the patent number usually is, and “Made in USA” for the country of origin. Lastly, I signed the inner sleeve to personalize the dispenser. (And also because, after getting so many Pez autographs from others, I wanted to experience doing this myself!)

Here are a couple of pictures I took during the dispenser assembly process. You can click on them for a larger view.

I’m quite pleased with how the custom dispenser turned out! Here is a GIF of how the outside of the dispenser looks.

Along with the custom dispenser, I created a custom candy pack. The last time I made a custom candy pack was for Pezhead Monthly's 20-year anniversary in 2021. Those turned out pretty well, but I wanted to do something different, and better, this time around.

For the paper for the custom candy pack, I used glossy label paper for the wrapper. This printed very well and resulted in a much nicer look than the standard paper label I used in 2021. For the design, I wanted to pay homage to the US candy wrappers that were in use when Pezhead Monthly started, and that were in circulation until around 2018. Again, I swapped out “PEZ for “PHM.” I also changed the “Ingredients” to include the various components of Pezhead Monthly over these past 25 years,

Here are some comparisons of the official Pez candy wrapper from that era with the candy wrapper I made for my custom candy pack.

I could have stopped there and it would have still been a big project. But I kept on going! One of the things PEZ Candy USA started doing in their bagged Pez in recent years was including “Fun Facts” about the dispensers, history of Pez, etc. There are 28 Fun Facts in the series, and multiple series and variations as well. These have become another collecting quest for Pezheads. So in that spirit, I came up with 8 Fun Facts about Pezhead Monthly’s first 25 years. The Fun Facts included QR codes that linked to either the main website or to the specific fact (such as the Pezhead Monthly YouTube page). Here are a few of the Pezhead Monthly 25 Year Fun Facts!

I then assembled one Fun Fact in a sealed plastic bag, along with the custom dispenser and custom candy pack.

There was one more piece to this project to make it complete. The proverbial cherry on the sundae, if you will. And that was a topper for the bag that described the contents of the bag and explained just what the heck Pezhead Monthly is. For the topper, I drew inspiration from a couple of places. First, for the design I paid homage to the Pez bags that were in stores when Pezhead Monthly started. Second, I learned from my Pez pal Josh, when he hosted the Pez Informational Gathering, that I could seal the bag up with double-sided tape. This allows the topper to easily come off and on the bag, and then for the bag to be unsealed and resealed, so that the contents can come out of the bag for display or just for a closer look.

Here are pictures of the front and back of the topper card!

And finally, here are pictures of the complete product with all of the pieces included.

As I mentioned above in the Pezamania 35 recap, I gave some of these away at Pezamania to Pez pals who have meant a lot to me over the years I’ve attended Pezamania and other conventions and gatherings, and/or fellow creators and people who have encouraged and inspired me to think “outside the dispenser” for Pezhead Monthly or just Pez in general. I set a few aside for some other people that I need to reach out to, a few for my personal collection, and possibly a few for some convention auctions or giveways down the road. Some of the candy packs may also appear in future swag for conventions or gatherings. I may eventually sell a few of these too, but I have no immediate plans for this at this time.

Looking back on how this project came together, while it was fun to come up with and put together all of the pieces, there's also no doubt that it was very challenging. For starters, I hand cut all of the dispenser wraps, candy wrappers, fun facts, and toppers. To say I had a plethora of hand cramps along the way is somewhat of an understatement. There was also a heck of a lot of trial and error along the way, especially for the dispenser wraps and candy wrappers, Even a slight miscalculation could result in a glaringly unsatisfactory result. I did allow myself some grace for a few of the smaller imperfections, but I also discarded plenty of the larger ones.

That being said, I am so glad to have done this project to celebrate 25 years of Pezhead Monthly. It encapsulated so many aspects of what Pezhead Monthly is all about, both in the project itself and also in all of the little details and touches I added along the way. On top of that, it brought me such happiness to share this with such wonderful people at Pezamania.

Thanks again to all of the Pez pals and fellow creators who have inspired me, not only for this specific project, but also over these many years that I’ve known you and shared the joy of this awesome hobby with you. I appreciate all of your support and encouragement for Pezhead Monthly and Pez in general. It’s such a thrill to share my Pez creations with you, and I’ve also very much enjoyed seeing and collecting your Pez creations too.

It’s been a pretty fun 25 years for Pezhead Monthly. I look forward to continuing to think outside the dispenser for many years to come!