Annual Happy Slapowitz's Toy Bash this Friday in downtown Cape

The 2019 Happy Slapowitz’s Toy Bash will electrify Cape Girardeau’s downtown Friday night — and help provide holiday cheer for local children in need.

Ryan Eftink has been with the event from its beginning in 2001, he said.

That first year, he and his roommates had a “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if ...” moment, and they held a music festival in their shared house, asking for new, unwrapped toys to be donated.

“We had too many people at our house that first year,” Eftink said. “We thought, ‘We need to spread this out.’”

So they moved to Cape Girardeau’s downtown, and it’s grown from that first performance at The Rude Dog Pub.

People crowd around tables during Happy Slapowitz's Toy Bash on Dec. 8, 2017, at The Rude Dog Pub in downtown Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

This year, attendees will be able to enjoy music at 13 downtown venues, and have a meal, while taking in 21 musical acts.

Smokin’ Brothers, Eftink’s family’s grill company, provides equipment, time and expertise on how to prepare the meat, he said.

Admission is one of three options: A $10 cash donation, wearing a 2019 Happy Slapowitz T-shirt (available at Pastimes Antiques, 45 N. Main St. in Cape Girardeau, for $20) or a new, unwrapped toy grants entry into 13 bars.

Sponsors help out with other expenses, Eftink said.

“We start in the black on the night of the bash,” Eftink said. “Everything we raise goes right back into buying toys for local kids.”

Happy Slapowitz is the largest local toy drive for the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program, Eftink said.

Local coordinating officer for Toys for Tots, Matt McGill, said the toy bash has been “an amazing partnership with Toys for Tots since its beginning. It enables us to purchase specialty toys and get specific toys for certain age groups.”

Last year, according to www.toysfortots.org, the organization distributed 16,275 toys to 3,063 children total in Cape Girardeau.

Eftink said the event’s organizers strive to provide a variety of musical acts, so everyone attending can find something to love — even if they’re not necessarily into the bar scene.

Plenty of venues are smoke-free, Eftink said, and attendees run the age gamut from 21 on up.

“Not one age group is more represented,” he said, from retired people, those in their 50s, people with young families who go out once a year, and this is it.

“With 21 acts, you’ll find what you want to listen to somewhere,” Eftink said.

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Happy SlapowitzÂ’s Toy Bash lineup

From 6 p.m. to bar close Friday, acts and locations in downtown Cape Girardeau for Happy Slapowitz's Toy Bash, from www.happystoybash.com:

21 Taps: Blind Velvet and Atlas Spin

The Bar: Chris Wehrenberg and The Keusenkothens

Blue Diamond: Community Sadness, The Scatterguns, and Guy Morgan

Coin-Op Cantina: No music, but there will be an all-night barbecue buffet

Ebb and Flow Fermentations: Crimson Soul

Hot Shots: The Modeans and The Tone Def All-Stars

The Library: SilverFox

Minglewood: Jen and Bob Henderson and Jason Heeter

Port Cape Girardeau: Evan Webb and Adam Hellman, Uncle Pecos

Pour House Pub: A DJ will be there

Ragsdales: Odd Moses and Rated 21

The Rude Dog Pub: The Big Idea and The Tony Logue Band

Shakers: Jamie Gooch and Friends, along with Isabella