MEXICO — Walking into Region 9 School of Applied Technology Director Brenda Gammon’s office on Friday was akin to entering a clock factory.
A steady drone of noise emanated from toys lining windowsills. The clicking, clacking, ticktocking rhythm coupled with an incessant humming sound was enough to make visitors turn to see what was making all the commotion.
“Aren’t they great?” Gammon said of her collection of 50 solar-powered motion toys gyrating, wiggling, flapping, dancing and waving in sunlight streaming into her second-floor office.
“Sometimes kids will come in and they’ll grab one and it doesn’t work anymore, but that’s all right. That’s what they’re there for, for the children.”
The collection started with a custodian who gave Gammon a couple of the gadgets one day a few years ago.
Family, friends and co-workers took notice and soon those two adorable trinkets were joined by a multitude of holiday-themed motion toys, animals, hula dancers, swinging monkeys, flowers and insects on flowers in faux terracotta pots, children waving diplomas, snowmen and circus animals.
“It’s crazy,” Gammon said. “They do make noise. Some people come in and look all around for the source of the sounds.”
But she finds the noise comforting and has taken to placing ones that are holiday-themed or seasonal on her desk during those times.
A monkey and bear were swinging to and fro on swings on the sunlit corner of her desk while a boy and girl garbed in cap and gown and holding diplomas waved their arms and bobbled their heads back and forth.
“They do get loud on nice sunny days, I tell you,” Gammon said.
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