Those looking to get their hands on a cool gadget showed up at the Ottawa Nostalgia and Collectable show Sunday. More than 50 dealers filled the Nepean Sportsplex with everything from collector items, antiques, memorabilia and other interesting finds at the spring edition of the biannual show. Jason Saikaley is a collector of Creature from the Black Lagoon, a universal monster from 1954. “Obsessed with him since a little child. Now, I’m in my 50s and still looking for him,” says Saikaley. Saikaley says he’s been collecting since he was a kid and continues to look for items and in the last ten years, he’s grown his collection of hardcore music. “I’m always looking for metal, hard rock to add to my already too big of collection at home,” says Saikaley. “I have 3,500 CDs, mainly vinyl CDs and cassettes.” At various tables across the unique show you could find comics, radios, postcards, toys, coins, records, trading cards. Some items included high quality Beatles and Coca-Cola memorabilia. “We’ve brought a lot of different kinds of nostalgia, like early advertising toys, paperwork that relates to different things that people collect, railroad things, all kinds of things like that,” says dealer Ed Locke. “The hottest things right now are basically the early advertising. The signs and the tins.” Organizers say it’s the only major show of its kind in eastern Ontario. “They’re looking for things from the past. Maybe they’re not even buying them but they’re touching them,” says Doug Stroud, owner of The Ottawa Nostalgia & Collectible Show. “It’s nostalgia. That’s what it’s about.” General admission was $8 for adults and free for children under 12. The show wrapped up Sunday at 3 p.m. The show returns in the fall on Oct. 18.
