LITTLE ROCK, Ark — One of Arkansas's most iconic and important holiday events is back— the 52nd annual Bob Robbins Memorial Toy Hill Weekend is bringing all the Christmas joy back atop Toy Hill next to War Memorial Stadium.
The Marine Corps started the Toys for Tots campaign 75 years ago.
While each year is special, those involved point to the significance of this year, which would have been Bob Robbins' 52nd year as a force behind Toy Hill in Central Arkansas.
“There’s a lot of hands in this pie to make the wheels on the bus go round and round,” said Drew Allen, Toy Hill organizer.
Toy Hill Weekend aims to make Christmas memorable for thousands of Arkansas children. Their unofficial motto is every kid should get a present.
It’s a sentiment that became the foundation of Toy Hill thanks to Bob Robbins.
“That kid just wants to have a good time and live a good life, and they remember it every year,” Rodney "Cyclehouse" Roberts said. “He [Robbins] grew up in an environment where he didn’t get toys. His real passion for this was no child waking up on Christmas morning without a toy.”
Roberts and Allen both said that Bob’s dream is what pushes them, as they spent years working alongside and learning from him.
This year, there are 21,000 requests for toys through Toys for Tots—a huge feat, but Roberts said somehow, they typically get it done.
2024 is special for Roberts too, since it marks 40 years of his involvement. He said that while there are plenty of memories packed into those four decades, one has stuck.
“Forty years of doing it, we’ve had sleet before, we’ve had rain before, and the only time that we didn’t do it, which Bob and I kind of got into a little dispute over that, was because the roads were iced,” Roberts recalled. “He [Robbins] said, ‘We’ve never not done Toy Hill.’ So, I don’t know who won that argument, but we moved it out a week and made it successful.”
In 40 years, Roberts knew after year one he was sticking around.
“It just became a tradition, and I just couldn’t walk away from it after that,” Roberts said.
Toy Hill is one of the largest events of its kind, and it’s one that Allen said Arkansans hold a piece of.
“It’s a generational thing because people that used to go, now bring their kids and even grandkids,” Allen said. “It’s two full days of fun, with a lot of stuff going on at Rodney’s Cyclehouse and because of Toy Hill.”
Its legacy will always be intertwined with Bob Robbins.
“Hopefully his legacy lives on through us,” Roberts said. “Hopefully, we can keep that legacy going as he was always able to pull something out of the sky.”
No matter what, with loads of help, Roberts and Allen said they will work to bring some Christmas joy to the kids.
“Children don’t get a choice,” Roberts said. “They didn’t get a choice of where they are so, there is no reason for that child to not have that present on Christmas morning."
Saturday is the car show and Sunday is the popular motorcycle show parade.