toy industry

A grenade was reported to be brought to Red Pump Elementary School on Tuesday that turned out to be a novelty.

Laurel resident Katherine "Miss Katie" Hopkins passed away six months ago at 104, but at St. Mark's United Methodist Church the spirit of Miss Katie was surely felt Dec. 1 at the first annual Katie Hopkins Scholarship Fund Concert and Toy Drive.

Those volunteering for the Arbutus nonprofit based on the campus of Arbutus United Methodist Church at Shelbourne Road and Maple Avenue were out in full force on Dec. 14 to help make the organization's annual toy giveaway a success for nearly 300 families.

Ridgely Middle School students have exceeded goals in their first Toys for Tots drive filling five boxes with gifts.

Free event includes warm meal for all and gifts for kids

Donations to The Aegis Empty Stocking Fund continue to climb this week, as many people, businesses and organizations step forward to help their less fortunate Harford County neighbors during the holiday season.

Christmas is arriving early this year for The Empty Stocking Fund's many recipients and the Fund's volunteers express their appreciation and thanks to each one who has had a part in supporting the Fund.

The BNI Laurel Thursday Breakfast Chapter joins the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve this year to help the Toys for Tots Foundation collect toys for children who are less fortunate. A local drop-off site can be found at Ourisman Honda Volkswagen at 3371 Fort Meade Road, Laurel, MD 20724.

To perform a mitzvah for his Bar Mitzvah, which happened to fall during Hanukkah, Zack Lubliner donated items to the Toy Closet run by Jewish Community Services. Donating to the Toy Closet has been a traditional mitzvah for the Lubliner family during the Jewish holiday.

An Ellicott City firehouse will be home to a train garden geared toward providing holiday gifts for needy children now through Jan. 1.

Christmas is arriving early this year for The Aegis Empty Stocking Fund's many recipients and the charity has just reached the halfway mark toward its goal of raising $80,000 to help Harford County children and families in need this holiday season.

On Dec. 11, servers and bartenders at multiple locations of the Greene Turtle will pool their tips to purchase toys for local Toys for Tots drives.

For the 22nd year, Maryland Transportation Authority employees will be collecting new, unwrapped toys this week for the Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots campaign.

Retailers striving to remain relevant are experimenting with new concepts at malls across the Baltimore region and elsewhere this holiday selling season. Specialty retailers are opening even more specialized stores, targeting specific segments of shoppers.

Christmas season comes early for The Aegis Empty Stocking Fund, and the elves are busy working to get toys packed for the 831 Harford County children who will receive gifts of toys this holiday season.

Toys for Tots campaigns are scheduled at Giant Food and Toys R Us

The Havre de Grace Ambulance Corps, Inc., along with the Marine Corps Reserve and the Toys for Tots Foundation, have designated the Havre de Grace Ambulance Corps station as a Toys for Tots drop-off location again this year.

Harford reactions mixed to Black Friday early openings

Handmade and antique dolls on display Dec. 1 and Dec. 2

Looney's Pub is staging an "Operation Santa" toy drive for children in New York and New Jersey whose families were affected by Hurricane Sandy. #GivingTuesday

National survey says 247 million shoppers made the retail rounds in person and online during Black Friday weekend, an increase of 9.2 percent over last year.

The all-important holiday season is looking brighter this year for area independent toy shops

Thanksgiving is a time to start thinking about giving to organizations and advocacy groups that help the less fortunate during the holiday season.

Hampden merchants are a soft touch at this time of year, donating money to holiday season event and activities to help needy children and their families.

Organizations' wish lists for holiday season

Below is a listing of local helping organizations seeking donations of either money or items, or both. In this season of giving and Thanksgiving, please share your blessings, by giving to those less fortunate.

Once again in 2012, The Aegis Empty Stocking Fund is continuing its charitable activities to make the Christmas Holiday Season happier for Harford County residents in need.

Kool Smiles, a dental practice which maintains five offices in the city and more than 100 across the country, has organized Operation Troop Treats, a program that simultaneously fights tooth decay and supports soldiers in the war zones.

This will be a time of big changes for everyone, including your pets. They will be in tune to all of the anxiety, excitement and stress that will fill your household. It's important to help your other "babies" adjust to the new one you'll soon be bringing home.

Anne Arundel County Fair features Halloween Happening haunted barn and hayride events. Russett is official Toys for Tots donation site this holiday season.

Amy Lynne Shelton has a closet full of toys at the Johns Hopkins University cognitive psychology lab: Lego and model train buildings, wooden human figures with movable joints, toy cameras and wooden triangular blocks — some with eyes, some without.

Live Arts Maryland music director J. Ernest Green opened the 2012-2013 season on a new high last weekend at Maryland Hall with a fabulous production of "Guys and Dolls" in which Annapolis Chorale members and stellar soloists brought sparkle to classic Broadway.

If there is one television sportscaster to whom the adjective ¿legendary¿ can honestly be applied it is Al Michaels, play-by-play announcer of NBC¿s ¿Sunday Night Football.¿

Laurel Police are now saying an Aug. 22 incident they reported as the attempted abduction of an 11-year-old boy at a bus stop was not an abduction attempt after all, after two men discussed the incident with police on Friday, Aug. 31.

Two generations of the Knazik family are behind Laurel Mill Playhouse's Summer Youth Production of "Guys and Dolls." The husband and wife team of Stu and Patti Knazik serve as musical director and producer, respectively, and their college sophomore daughter, Jocelyn Knazik, makes her directing debut.

Howard "Bud" Ritter Jr., a retired Towson High School principal who had a second career as an antique toy and train dealer, died of dementia Monday at the Presbyterian Home of Maryland. The longtime Towson resident was 83.

John Waters narrates 'Of Dolls And Murder,' story of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death

During National Teacher Appreciation Week, a Catonsville High teacher who is beloved by students is on a roll in his Advanced Placement European History class.

Local girls model American Doll outfits with matching dolls for charity.

Mitt Romney aide gaffe gold for campaign watchers

Raven thinks she's participating in a show about cats who enjoy catnip. She has no idea that soon she will be confronted with … an intervention.

Raven thinks she's participating in a show about cats who enjoy catnip. She has no idea that soon she will be confronted with … an intervention.

Light up dog toys and accessories that really shine

Maryland State Police on Wednesday, Jan. 11, arrested a Sykesville man and a juvenile for pointing what they described as "a very realistic, but toy gun" at a motorist while driving on Route 97 in Westminster.