Nov 29, 2018 4 min read

Channel Craft resembles Santa’s workshop all year long.

The 34-year-old Charleroi company makes and distributes authentic American-crafted toys, games and puzzles, and as Christmas nears, Channel Craft’s merry band of employees is hard at work filling orders for its customers nationwide.

There is even a section in the warehouse dedicated to “misfit toys” – imperfect but usable toys – that the company donates to Toys for Tots and Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child.

“Everyone’s jazzed. There’s no down time,” says Dean Helfer Jr., the affable president and founder of Channel Craft. “There’s busy and busier.”

The vintage toys and games Channel Craft produces are ones that children’s parents and grandparents might have unwrapped under their Christmas trees: tiddly winks, marbles, pick-up sticks, dominoes, jacks, jump ropes, balsa wood planes, jigsaw puzzles and yo-yos.

No batteries required.

“There is an appeal for nostalgic toys. Most of the people who buy them are like me – they don’t want their kids or grandkids growing up without games and toys that provide them with a truly interactive experience,” says Helfer.

Helfer, now 56, launched Channel Craft in 1983 after purchasing a 1972 Ford van and mounting his grandfather’s woodshop tools in the back. He traveled to craft shows and festivals, where he sold his handcrafted items.

Among the products he crafted were boomerangs, which he started making by hand and selling while he was a student at West Virginia University.

“I wanted to teach everybody in the world how to throw a boomerang,” says Helfer, who started the university’s Boomerang Club, which performed during halftime of football games.

By the time he graduated from college, Helfer was selling about $113,000 worth of boomerangs a year. He opened a shop in Morgantown before moving to Ellsworth, and in 1991 he purchased a warehouse on the bank of the Monongahela River that had originally been constructed as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boatyard during construction of Lock No. 4.

Channel Craft now makes more than 100 authentic American-crafted toys and also distributes toys made by American craftsmen. The toys are distributed through outlets including Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, museums, national parks, and mom-and-pop shops throughout the country.

Most items are available for around $10 or less.

Channel Craft has grown to 40 employees, whom Helfer describes as a “brilliant and dedicated team with a great work ethic.”

Among them is Katherine Secleter, a graphic designer and social media manager who was hired five years ago after she graduated from California University of Pennsylvania.

“It is a very positive atmosphere here. I think everybody enjoys what they do because they’re making something for a child to play with,” Secleter says. “I feel we’re giving the gift of imagination and the gift of fun.”

For Dennis Miller, a retired private investigator who sports a Santa-like white beard, working at Channel Craft is “the perfect retirement job.”

“It’s a good place to be. All the people here are really nice, and Dean buys us lunch every other Friday,” Miller says, laughing.

Helfer is proud that his company continues to thrive in a market where at least 90 percent of toys sold in the United States are produced in foreign countries.

Channel Craft remains the largest manufacturer of boomerangs in the world, producing 80,000 throwsticks each year.

“We are able to compete by producing quality toys made in the U.S.A.,” Helfer says. “In addition to the 40 of us, there are hundreds of other craftsmen around America who are counting on Channel Craft to distribute their products to our department stores and specialty stores.”

On a recent October morning, inside the three buildings that make up the Channel Craft campus, employees were working to fulfill Christmas orders for the company’s approximately 10,000 customers: cutting and assembling wooden toys, placing game pieces and instructions inside games, stamping logos on whistles – a veritable Santa’s workshop.

“They’re counting on us to fill their orders, and we can’t let them down,” Helfer says.

Helfer says he’s committed to ensuring the company continues to grow and provide unique, retro products. “Oh, sure, I imagined this, but it didn’t just get to this point,” he says. “Every day is a continuous progression. We make decisions, and some work and some don’t. We have the problems that every business does, but we just keep on trying.”