Bannor Toys: Keeping American-Made Craftsmanship Alive
Soon after starting up an in-home day care in central Iowa, Stacey Bannor realized that having a good selection of reliable toys at her disposal was crucial for her business. Growing tired of dealing with constantly breaking toys and safety recalls from toy manufacturers, Stacey set out to put together a collection of durable, educational toys she could be proud to show off to prospective clients.
Stacey’s husband, Jesse, who worked in the home mortgage division of a large banking company, loved woodworking as a hobby. He started crafting toys for Stacey to use in her day care, using beautiful maple, walnut and cherry hardwoods.
Jesse built baby rattles, wooden cars and trucks, building blocks and some floor toys. The toys became excellent additions to Stacey’s day care collection, and the Bannors realized there might be others looking for these same types of quality, American-made toys. They decided to turn Jesse’s hobby into a toy-making business.
