Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor
"Scores!" Says He: October 2024
Open the Door, Get On the Floor, Everybody IN Crowd '24
Pez Poetry

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor | top

Well, hello there! Happy November from Pezhead Monthly.

My Pez life in October was quite a ride. It included 2 different Pez events: the 2024 Indiana Pez Gathering, also known as IN Crowd 2024, and the 2024 Fall edition of the Virtual Pez Convention (or VPC). I walk through my recap of IN Crowd in this issue, and I'll cover VPC in the next issue. Spoiler alert: once again, I performed some Pez poetry at the VPC, dressed as none other than Abraham Lincoln. Hopefully there will be video of this in next month's issue or maybe a later one. For now, I've at least included the poem in this month's issue.

There was at least one more Pez gathering in October that I was unable to attend: Pezylvania 14 in Kutztown, PA. I've never made it to this gathering, and since it often overlaps with IN Crowd, I am not sure when I will get the chance, But, I hear it is quite the good time and I still hold out hope that I can make it there one day.

There are no more Pez events taking place this year, or at least none that I'm aware of or that I'll be attending. But there is at least one more Pez adventure in the cards for me in early December. I am excited to share details about it in an upcoming issue.

I do want to pass along a heads up to fellow Pezheads out there in the next couple of months: be on the lookout for exclusive holiday dispensers in stores. As of this writing, people have spotted an exclusive Christmas Pikachu at Walmart, a new Bullseye Dog at Target, and a new 2024 hauler at Wawa. For this and other Pez info, I highly recommend following the Pez Palz blog if you don't already. It's the best way to stay on top of new Pez releases, news, rumors, and more across the globe, and it also has lots of great pictorials that are handy references. (And while you're at it, also subscribe to the Pez Collector Store monthly email newsletter!)

This month's issue of Pezhead Monthly kicks off with "Flicked", a cover image that's a Pezzified take on a poster for the upcoming movie "Wicked," based on the Broadway musical and set to be released in the US this month. If you look closely at the Pez dispenser from Glinda's hand, you'll see it's the Wizard from the 2009 Wizard of Oz Pez collector set. (Here is a closer look.). Also in this issue is a recap of my adventures at IN Crowd 2024, as well as some Pez poetry (including poems that I wrote for IN Crowd 2024 and the VPC) and a rundown of my October scores.

Lastly, November is when the US holiday of Thanksgiving takes place. In this spirit, Pezhead Monthly has a newly updated Thanksgiving page for a cornucopia of Pez-inspired celebrations of this holiday. I've also updated the Indiana Pez page with the photo parody I made for this year's IN Crowd, as well as the Pez poetry I wrote for this year's and previous IN Crowds. There's lots of stuff on both of these pages, so be sure to check them out!

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

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: October 2024 | top

My Pez scores came from lots of different places in October.

From Pez.com, I only had one score in October, but it was a groovy one: the new set of Sonic the Hedgehog crystal dispensers. I like this set so much that I bought one to keep in box and one to open so that I can display the loose dispensers. Although to be fair, I do that for pretty much every set except for the 2-packs.

Out in the wild, I found a pair of Pez socks at the Dollar Tree that I did not even know had been released. The socks have a number of colors (white, pink, purple, green, blue) and, I think, put the number of Dollar Tree pairs of socks in just 2024 alone to FIVE. That's pretty wild to me how Dollar Tree got so many styles, and how this turned many Pezheads into de factor sock collectors too. In addition to the socks, I also picked up the new Nutcracker on green stem at Walgreens. This guy is only in a tube this year but should be on cards and in bags in 2025.

From the Pez Outlaw himself, Steve Glew, I picked up 3 new custom pieces to add to my Pez Outlaw collection. The first two were I Heart Pezzies and Catch Me If You Can. The next one was special because it was a likeness of his wife Kathy Glew. Those of us who have seen the documentary "The Pez Outlaw" know what a special relationship Steve and Kathy have and how much Kathy's love and support means to Steve. So this custom piece, called the "Mom" dispenser, was a real treat to add to my collection, and what's even better is that Kathy signed the sleeve (instead of Steve, who usually signs the Pez Outlaw sleeves).

From the talented artist Mike Herz, whose creativity and craftsmanship is always next-level awesome, I picked up 2 more custom pieces from his Classic Monster series: Invasion of the Saucer-Men, and a color version of his previously released Frankenstein. Every month I look forward to seeing what Mike has in store for us and he never disappoints.

From fellow Pez pals and/or the Pez Facebook groups, I picked up some fun stuff. The first was the new set of "Block Builds" that have been showing up at Five Below. This includes the Hamburger, the Cupcake, and the Taco. I had been hitting the Five Below stores in my area quite frequently, so when I saw these for sale on a Pez FB group I was quite relieved to call off the hunt for them. I look forward to assembling them at a later time.

I also picked up the new Christmas Mascot from my Pez pal Jim. This dispenser is exclusive to the 2024 European Advent calendar, so I am glad to get it and add it to my ever-growing set of other Mascots.

From a crafty Pezhead, I picked up a bunch of Pez bags that were made from Pez t-shirts. This was a unique idea and the bags are well done. They can come in handy as tote bags at future Pez conventions and gatherings. My favorite of these bags, and the reason why I scooped this set up, is the one made from a Pezylvania 5 shirt. This shirt includes a comic featuring a batman Pez dispenser, and so this is a welcome addition to the Batman Pez part of my collection.

And, it was a real pleasure to get a Halloween card in the mail from Sue and Steve Heraly. The card features the Scooby Doo and Shaggy Pez dispensers. Sue and Steve are great people who also make a Pez calendar every year, with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society. They recently shared that the 2024 calendar raised $900! I've already ordered the 2025 calendar from them and I'm looking forward to getting it soon.

And lastly, from IN Crowd 2024 (which I recap elsewhere in this issue), I got a bunch of great stuff. This included the very well done attendee dispenser (yellow and green corn cobs) and charity dispenser (gold corn cobs), the cloudy Polar Bear that was exclusive to the 2023 European Advent calendar, a custom Dorothy dispenser from Pez on the River in September (for the convention's Wizard of Oz theme, and including a neat wraparound design on the stem), and a custom Popcorn treat from Becky that I won as one of the IN Crowd giveaways. I also scored the blue Dollar Tree socks, which were the last remaining Pez socks I needed for now (to my knowledge) and which puts a merciful end to my unrelenting hunt for this pair. And last but not least, I picked up a vintage 3.9 Hong Kong Donald Duck with no feet (which may end up being my last vintage Pez score of the year).

Here is a picture of my October scores, except for the shirt bags. You can click on the picture for a larger view.

Open the Door, Get On the Floor, Everyone IN Crowd '24

Saturday, October 12 marked the occasion of the 2024 Indiana Pez gathering, better known as IN Crowd. This year, for the first time, the IN Crowd took at a hotel instead of at someone's house. The hotel was in lovely Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This marked the first time that IN Crowd was in Fort Wayne. One of the things I like about this gathering is that it hops around from place to place and has different hosts from year to year. It started out in southeast Indianapolis and has since been to northwestern Indiana, central Indiana, and this year up in northeastern Indiana (with a couple of repeat locations and/or hosts thrown in along the way). I have a great time at all Pez conventions and gatherings, but I think IN Crowd is pretty unique in this way and I can dig it. Who knows where it will be next year?

IN Crowd 2024 was hosted by Matt and Holly Rider, a wonderful and kind couple who did a great job. Their 2 daughters were also there, including Molly Rider, who has made quite the name for herself in the Pez community with her very well-done Pez artwork.

I arrived the night before the event and stayed at the hotel. Fort Wayne is 2 hours away from home, which is not all that far, but I'm not exactly a morning person and thought it would be better to sleep in a bit, even if it meant paying for a night at the hotel. I do not regret this decision at all! However, I do regret touching the cracked window glass in my hotel room, which cut my finger (the hotel moved me to another room after this incident, which by the way is going in the TripAdvisor review). On the upside, just a little while into my start in Fort Wayne, it was already a bloody good time.

I may very well have been the only attendee who stayed overnight at the hotel. But that's okay, because I managed to stuff myself with chicken wings and also fit in another fruitless attempt at Pez sock hunting at Dollar Tree. Best of all, though, staying at the hotel allowed me a sneak peek at the welcome sign for the event!

I arrived at the event at 9am and was greeted by Matt and Holly. I was given a name tag in the shape of a popcorn bucket (which I absentmindedly wore all the way home, including dinner on the way) and a welcome bag. The welcome bag was a real treat. Inside the bag, which itself featured some of Molly's artwork, was a pin and magnet with the artwork, along with a few items for the games and giveaways later in the event. And there was even some popcorn wraped up in a package made to look like a corn cob! (I'd share a picture, but said popcorn made its way down my esophagus a while back.) The gathering dispenser this year was quite special, and I think it may have even topped the IN Crowd 2023 gathering dispenser, with a head in the shape of the state of Indiana. As it turns out, this year's dispenser was also made by the brilliant Larry Mason. It was a bushel of corn! And man, I am glad I opted for the charity dispenser as well, which was a gold version of the same dispenser. (The charity was the Virtual Pez Convention scholarship, which was pretty cool. I'll talk more about the October VPC I attended in next month's issue.) Here is a picture of these 2 awesome dispensers. Thanks again Matt and Holly, and also Larry!!

I also had something for Matt and Holly, as well as everyone else at the gathering: another edition of my Pez swag (or, for IN Crowd, my Pez giveaway, since I always make enough for everyone). This year, my swag included a magnet of the "Eggyjuice" cover photo from last month's Pezhead Monthly issue, a sticker of a corn on the cob (Indiana's official vegetable, of course) with Pez candies taking the place of the corn kernels, a mini-calendar of 2025, and a note that described all of this along with a bonus Pez haiku that also happens to be featured in this month's issue. Have a peek inside my swag bag, why don't you!

By the time I got to my table to set up my stuff to sell, most everyone else was set up or in process of setting up. This included Karen and Ronnie, who hosted 2 of the previous IN Crowds at their home, Molly and her fabulous artwork, Don a.k.a. THE DANG, and a few others. It's always a treat to hang with The Dang, and Don also happened to be the primary source of my Pez scores for this event. In addition, other attendees were there, including my Canadian Pez pal Becky.

As for my stuff, I didn't bring that much to sell, but I did have the new Christmas Elf and Nutcracker, which went pretty fast. I also had some of the Pez magnets that I've made over the past year. Here is a picture of my table setup.

After a couple of hours of shopping, following by a very nice lunch of various Italian cuisine offerings provided by the Riders as an optional part of the attendee package, we moved on to the game portion of the event.

We kicked things off with a "Name That Tune" style game, where Holly played us clips from 15 different songs that related to Pez somehow. The objective was for us to name the artist for each song. Whoever had the most correct guesses was the winner and got 5 extra tickets for the giveaways later in the day. I just so happen to have a Pez song playlist that I put on when I am about an hour's drive away from the convention hotel, so I was feeling good about this. But let me tell you, this was quite a challenging game! There were some songs I knew and/or were on my playlist, such as "Pour Some Sugar On Me" and "Cleveland Rocks," but several threw me for a loop. There was "I Want Candy," but not the version I know from Bow Wow Wow. There was "Candy," which I thought was sung by Jack Jones (RIP, by the way), but it was actually Nat King Cole. There was "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, which I hadn't previously thought of as a Pez song, but yeah, that really works actually.

As it turns out, I had just enough to squeak out on top, with 9/15 correct answers! I am going to credit Weird Al's "Eat It," for pushing me over the finish line. Here is my winning card. The best part about this game is that now I have some more great songs to add to my Pez playlist!

We then played a bunch of bingo games. Now, astute readers of Pezhead Monthly know of my somewhat less than storied history as a Pez bingo player. I am pleased (I guess?) to report that this tradition continued at IN Crowd. I came close a few times, and came really close for the last cover-all game, but alas, B-I-N-G-O was not my name-o that day.

We then came to the last game of the event. Up until this game, I had assumed that maybe the bushel filled with several corn cobs in the middle of the table was just a centerpiece. But alas, it was more than that! Appropriately enough for an Indiana Pez gathering and going along with the corn theme, we were about to have ourselves a good old-fashioned corn cob shucking contest. And as a twist, the shuckers were blindfolded! I was our table's designated shucker. Here I am getting ready for the big game.

And then all of a sudden, I was descended into darkness and furiously grabbing at what I could only assume were corn cobs. (I assure you that last sentence was approved the Pezhead Monthly Standards and Practices committee, but just barely.) There were hurried shouts from my tablemates and I was shucking like I had never shucked before, taking my 24 years as an Indiana resident to their absolute limit, and then some.

Then just like that, the game was called. And wouldn't you know it, who should emerge victorious but my CANADIAN Pez pal Becky! She definitely put all of us Hoosiers to shame! But I was very happy for Becky, and my sincere congratulations go out to her.

To give you an idea of how intense this game was, here is a before and after of the shuckening that took place at my table.

After this final game of IN Crowd 2024, we all needed a breather. I took the opportunity to try some delicious maple cream cookies that someone brought. Whoever brought those, aw shucks, thank you! They were delicious!

Once we collected ourselves (get it? Because we're Pez collectors? Ha ha?), it was time for the giveaways. We all put the tickets we got in our attendee bags, plus the ones we won in the games, into our choice of buckets for various prizes that were donated by others in the community. These included convention packages, custom Pez, and even a vintage Pez (Little Orphan Annie, which I picked up at Pezamania in 2015 and also from the shelter in 2023).

I did win one of the giveaways: a custom Popcorn dispenser made by Becky! Very nice!

After the giveaways, there was a bit more shopping, but for the most part IN Crowd began to wind down and those of us who had set up tables for selling started to pack up and head out. As for me, after packing up and saying my goodbyes to everyone, I made my way to Muncie, Indiana for some incredibly delicious Pizza King pizza!

I will note here that although there were several familiar faces in attendance, overall IN Crowd 2024 was not very well attended this year. I think there was about 20 people, counting the hosts. But I will also say that I am not sure why this was the case! Fort Wayne, in Northeast Indiana, is a perfectly fine city that is close to both Michigan and Ohio and just a couple of hours away from several other larger cities. And, I thought being in a hotel would bring more people in. On top of this, Matt and Holly did a fine job of promoting it on Facebook, and again they were great hosts. I do know that multiple people could not attend because life got in the way, and I completely understand that. I also know a lot of people were kicking themselves for not coming once word got out about those awesome attendee and charity dispensers! In any case, hopefully we'll get a better turnout next year. I can tell you with pretty much 100% certainty that I will be there again next year, wherever IN Crowd ends up being.

As for my IN Crowd scores, these were great! I got a couple that were on my wish list and then a few more on top of that, including a vintage Donald Duck. You can read all about them and see a picture in this issue's installment of "Scores!" Says He, which covers all of my October scores.

I'd like to thank Matt and Holly again for doing such a great job hosting IN Crowd this year. I thought the event was planned really well, and it was a fun time. I appreciate the time and effort they put in to make the event such a success. Thanks also to Molly for making the fantastic artwork for this year's event, and thanks again to Larry for those amazing attendee and charity dispensers!

Unfortunately, we did not get a group picture this year. But that's okay, I will always cherish the great time we had together and the chance to hang out with fellow Pezheads, whether they be new faces or those who have become good friends over the years. The only thing better than attending a Pez event like IN Crowd is knowing that there's even more like this down the road. That's where I hope to see you all one day soon!

Pez Poetry | top

Lorne

There once was a Pezhead named Lorne,
A Hoosier from when he was born.
He quite rocked the boat
When he said, and I quote,
"I love Pez much more so than corn."

Four Scores and a Root Beer To Go

It's Saturday night and I am thinkin'
It's high time for some root beer drinkin'!
But before I quench that giant thirst,
There's something that I must do first

I hop in my car, the seat is sinkin',
Not quite as fancy as a Lincoln.
I turn the key, I'm good to go,
Onward to the Five Below.

There's Pikachu, and he is winkin',
I wonder what that rascal's thinkin'?
There's a burger and a taco!
And a cupcake, es muy guapo!

I hand the cashier those two Lincolns,
No time for waiting or for minglin'.
In the car, I slam the door
Homeward bound with four new scores!

But as I drive, I'm back to thinkin'
About my plan for root beer drinkin'.
Tonight, I think I am inclined
To hit the Culver's drive thru line.

Home at last, my steps are springin',
Feeling proud, just like Abe Lincoln.
Sippin' root beer, flippin' Pez:
Now that's what I call happiness.

Pez Haiku #183

I am thankful for
The pals that stand up for me
In my Pez display.