Thousands of Collectors Turn Out for Beanie Baby Auction

They turned out by the thousands, some camping out most of the night for a chance to buy or win one of those incorrigibly cute but staggeringly pricey soft toys that send adult collectors and child fans wild: Beanie Babies.

Roughly 2,000 people flocked to Los Cerritos Center Thursday morning, where gift stores raffled off the chance to buy new and limited editions of the toys, said Terri Jonisch, a spokeswoman for the mall.

And if cuddling their own bean-filled bear wasn’t enough inspiration for the handful who arrived six hours before the 8 a.m. drawing, there was always Tyrone Anthony Jackson. Seven-year-old Tyrone, who suffers from sickle cell anemia, was the beneficiary of the special Beanie Baby auction held to raise money for a trip to Disney World.

The “Beanie Baby Morning” was the creation of Marilyn Lawenda, owner of two gift shops in the mall, after she heard she was getting a large shipment of limited editions, Jonisch said. The shipment included two highly sought after toys: “Princess” beanie, a purple bear with a white heart emblazoned on its chest; and “Erin” beanie, a green bear with a white shamrock over its heart.

“She knew that if she told people, there’d be pandomonium,” Jonisch said. So, to avoid chaos, she organized a raffle, offering winners the chance to buy one of the two beanies babies.

With two other Beanie sellers in the mall, Lawenda also put up some of the prized bears for Jackson’s auction, Jonisch said.

One lot of five bears fetched $470, and the whole event raised about $2,500, more than enough to send Tyrone to Florida.