Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor
"Scores!" Says He: May 2025
The VPC Kicks Off The Fun
Pezhead Monthly Spotlight: Dennis Gilkey
Pez Poetry
Pezhead Monthly Celebrates June Birthdays

Spring Loaded: A Message from the Editor | top

Hello there! Happy June from Pezhead Monthly.

The big Pez news in May, in addition to the Pez gatherings in Kansas City and Maryland and the Spring Virtual Pez Convention (VPC), was PEZ Candy USA’s presence at the Sweets and Snacks Expo, right here in my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. (Since I am not in the candy business, I was unable to attend.) PEZ Candy USA always announces upcoming releases at this event, and there were a lot of them this year, including new dispenser sets for Bluey, Squishmallows, and Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as new dispensers for current series such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Pokemon, and Hello Kitty. I highly encourage you to check out the Pez Palz blog for more details and pictures!

Speaking of the Sweets and Snacks Expo, another tradition that PEZ Candy USA continued in 2025 was releasing an exclusive dispenser for the event. This year, the dispenser was the Blueberry Presenter Girl. It was given away to expo attendees, but in addition to this, PEZ Candy USA is generously offering the chance for collectors to purchase it. I entered for this opportunity last year for the 2024 Sweets and Snacks Presenter Girl and was lucky enough to get it. I entered again this year and my fingers are crossed that lightning will strike twice!

In June, all Pez eyes are on Michigan for the 8th Michigan Pez Convention! The theme for this year's MI PezCon is Steampunk. I’m hopeful that I can attend this convention, or at the very least make it there for the Saturday floor show. I’m saving most of my money for Pezamania in July, but I can also spend a bit in Michigan. Plus, it’s always good to see some of my Pez pals! I hope to see you there. And remember, the Saturday floor show is free to attend!

This issue of Pezhead Monthly kicks off with a cover image that’s a Pez photo parody of the movie poster for “Dirty Dancing.” Also in this issue are my thoughts on the Spring VPC that took place in May, including the small part that I played in it. In addition, there is another installment of the Pezhead Monthly Spotlight featuring Pezhead Dennis Gilkey’s celebration of the vintage Jiminy Cricket Pez dispenser. There is also some summery Pez Poetry and a few pieces from the archive to commemorate some notable June birthdays. Rounding out this issue is a rundown of my May scores.

Thanks as always for reading Pezhead Monthly. Take care and see you soon!

Joe Durrant
Editor, Pezhead Monthly
joe@pezheadmonthly.com

P.S. Did you miss last month's issue? You can still read it here. To search the full Pezhead Monthly archives, hop on over to the archive page, where you can browse by feature, Pez Poetry Slam, or issue. There's also a Google search bar to help you search the content across the site. And hey, maybe you would like to submit some words, photos, artwork, or videos to Pezhead Monthly to be featured in an upcoming issue? That would be great! Check out the submission details here.

"Scores!" Says He: May 2025 | top

I did not get a lot of new Pez for my collection in May, especially compared to previous months, but I am still happy with what I got as my collection continues to grow.

For my first Pez score out in the wild since March, I picked up the new promotional truck from Ace Hardware. It took me four stores to find the new truck and I was quite happy to find it. These trucks are a bit difficult to keep track of, and it does not help that different versions have been found at the same time in the same store, so it can be easy to forget which ones you have. That’s why I always recommend having pictures of your collection on your phone when you are out hunting for Pez. For the Ace trucks, we also have the awesome pictorial from the Pez Palz blog.

On the Facebook Pez groups, I was also able to trade one of my extra 2025 Ace hardware trucks for the 2024 Wawa truck that I missed. Wawa recently started opening stores near me, so I am looking forward to finding the trucks locally instead of only online or at conventions. There have been no official announcements for future Wawa trucks that I know of, but new Pez trucks have shown up at Wawa for at least the last 9 or 10 years, so it’s a safe bet that there will be another one later this year too.

I also picked up the June/July 2025 issue of Pez Collector's News (PCN). This issue covers a range of topics such as retail prices, customs, and Pez in the media, and includes a letter to the editor and an updated Pez checklist. PCN is a definite “must subscribe” for any Pezhead! You can subscribe here.

From my Pez pal Jim, co-host of the Michigan Pez Convention, I picked up the Michigan Pez dinner dispenser. This is a cool dispenser that fits the Steampunk theme of the convention. While I was not able to attend the dinner, I am hoping to attend at least part of the convention happening this month.

From my Pez pal Jason, who I missed when he was in town earlier this year due to troubles with my car, I picked up the Arizona Diamondbacks MLB Baseball. This came out way back in 2002 and I somehow missed it, I think because it was harder to find than most other MLB baseballs. I’d like to proclaim that this completes my MLB baseball set, but I can’t say for sure that there aren’t other, more rare ones out there.

From Pez.com, I picked up a bunch of stuff. Fresh off the heels of Mamacado in April, I picked up her counterpart Papacado. Yes, this is another re-use of the Avacado dispenser from earlier this year, and the same general idea as Mamacado (where the avocado pit is the child being held by the parent), but it’s still cute. I also picked up the new Pez retro orange tumbler, which includes not only the cool tumbler on its own, but also the box, which displays very well. I am glad I got two of these because there are 2 different sides of the box to display, one with a retro Pez logo and one with the hometown of Pez Candy USA: Orange, CT.

I also picked up the 2 new Pez brides: one with dark skin tone and brown hair, and one with dark skin and red hair. This is not the first time that Pez has swapped skin and hair colors for the most recent Bride mold that came out in 2020, and called them “new” dispensers. And, for my part, I am very good at buying all of these despite their sometimes minor differences! I think these 2 brides complete my collection of the 2020 mold so far, but I can’t say for sure.

Rounding out my Pez.com scores were Ken, the latest in the Barbie series, and another new version of Happy Pikachu. I’m still on the hunt for another new Pokemon Pez, Gengar, and hope to pick this up soon.

Here is a picture of all of my May scores. You can click on it for a larger view.

The VPC Kicks Off The Fun | top

The theme of the Spring 2025 VPC was football, as shown in the logo here as well as on the VPC dispenser, which I look forward to getting in June. The VPC had as many as 125 participants or more when I checked.

Among the Pez tours featured at the Spring 2025 VPC were those hosted by Mark and Holly Fagan, Patty Thomas, Michael Palmisano, Larry Scott, and Michelle Coots.

The Fagans kicked things off by showing us many pieces of their collection that were not in their home, but rather in one of the candy stores that they own in Florida. The store is called The Candy Barrel. Their collection was displayed above the regular candy selection in the store. (They keep their vintage Pez at home.) One of the neat features they showed was a “bring one/take one” display, where people can trade one of their current Pez for one at the store. Mark mentioned that he had gotten a few new dispensers this way. This also really encourages the spirit of sharing that is so much a part of the Pez community. Mark even mentioned that one of the people who used to come to the store to trade quite often was the late John Gliha, a former Pezamania host who just happened to live nearby.

Another room tour was presented by Patty Thomas. Astute readers of Pezhead Monthly may recall that Patty was the subject of the first Pezhead Monthly Spotlight back in February 2024. This was a showcase of some of her very well done Pez stop-motion animation videos. I encourage you to check out her YouTube channel for more. Patty’s Spring 2025 VPC room tour featured a visitor’s book, which I’ve seen in some other Pez rooms and I think it’s a neat idea. Among the many pieces of Patty’s collection, she has a very impressive assortment of custom Peppermint Patty dispensers. Patty’s vintage collection was in a separate display and featured lots of cool stuff. Patty is a great Pez pal who is always fun to be around and I look forward to seeing her again at an upcoming convention, hopefully at Pezamania in July.

While I did not take as many notes during the other tours by Larry, Michael, and Michelle, I truly enjoyed them all and look forward to seeing them again, as they were all recorded. I did enjoy during Larry’s tour when he turned out the lights to shine a UV light on some of his dispensers. These dispensers looked similar in normal light, but sometimes reacted differently under the UV light. I’ll definitely need to give this a try in my own collection!

In addition to the Pez tours, the VPC has recently started adding in tours from other fandoms. These have included tours of action figure and music collections. This continued with the Spring 2025 VPC, as attendees had the pleasure to meet Doogie Sandtiger, billed as the CROC HUNTER and also known as the CROC KING. As these titles imply, Doogie holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Croc footwear. Doogie’s record stands at an amazing 3569 pairs of Crocs, although as of the VPC it has grown to 3744 pairs (and I am guessing may have even grown since then). This means that Doogie can wear a different pair of Crocs each day for over 10 years! It was a real treat to hear Doogie talk about how he started his collection and how it continues to grow. He explained how much his hobby meant to him, especially after a hard time growing up. He showed us lots of cool Crocs from his collection. His enthusiasm was obvious and it made for an entertaining time. It also struck a lot of parallels with Pez collectors, including how our hobbies make other smile and how we can sometimes spend a large amount of money on a single piece in our collection, with no regret. Another notable thing about Doogie visiting the VPC is that this is the second Guinness World Record holder featured at the VPC, the first being Brian Trauman, who holds the Guinness World Record for largest Pez collection.

I’m also happy to share that, thanks once again to the kindness and consideration of hosts Morgan and Landon, I had the opportunity to perform another Pez poem at the Spring 2025 VPC. In the past at the VPC I’ve performed Pez poetry as Abraham Lincoln, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Sophia Petrillo from ”The Golden Girls”, and a giant piece of jellied toast. I’ve also worn goat and bunny costumes. Several of these performances are available on a YouTube playlist I’ve put together.

For the Spring 2025 VPC, in honor of the holiday Star Wars Day that took place earlier in May (May The Fourth be with you), I dressed up as a lightsaber-wielding Jedi and read a Star Wars Poem poem that I wrote last year. Here are a couple of pictures of me before and during the performance, followed by the poem I read, “A Force of Their Own,” which was originally published in the May 2024 issue of Pezhead Monthly. My understanding is that my Spring VPC performance was recorded. If that's the case, I’ll post it in a future issue when it becomes available.

A Force of Their Own
(Originally published in May 2024)

So there I was, eating at Qdoba,
And thinking about my homeboy Boba.
His first Pez appearance was in '98,
That Fett, you bet he was truly great.

And just last week, watching Butthead and Beavis,
Who came to mind but General Grievous!
He came on the Pez scene in 2005,
"Hello there!" I said when he finally arrived.

Life sure was sweet when Pez released Lando,
And a couple years later, along came our Mando!
And The Child was with him, 'twas so neatly planned,
And who do we have here? Well, it's Fennec Shand!

And let's not forget about that detailed tin,
In the shape of the splendid Millenium Falcon!
In 2017, it joined the Pez fun
Fresh off its win in that Kessel Run.

The giants! The POP Pez! So many, methinks!
A motorized Pez scene with Jar Jar Binks!
The holiday Grogus! The Disney 100s!
Will it ever end? I often have wondered.

These Star Wars dispensers were just a new hope
A long time ago, and far far away,
But now they are here, a Force of their own,
A beloved part of our Pez displays.

Mixed in with all of the above were lots of giveaways. In addition, the Spring VPC culminated with 7 games of Pez Bingo, each with unique prize themes such as Pez books, gift cards, Pez art, Disney Parks, and conventions. While I did not win any giveaways or Bingo games, it was still a lot of fun to participate. And it should be noted that all prizes for the giveaways and Bingo were donated by fellow Pezheads, which is one of the big reasons why the VPC is free for everyone to attend. Thanks to all who donated for the VPC! Your generosity made the event even greater.

And with that, another fantastic VPC is in the books. Thanks again to hosts Landon and Morgan for all of the time and effort you put into planning the Spring 2025 VPC and in hosting the event itself, especially as you are also hosting Pezamania, the biggest Pez convention in the world that just happens to be less than 2 months away. I don’t know how you guys keep it all together. And thanks in particular to you both for allowing me again to be a part of VPC with my silly Pez puns and poetry. Thanks also to all of the Pez tour hosts as well as the CROC KING Doogie.

It was so great to hang out with my Pez pals online at the Spring 2025 VPC. I’m looking forward to seeing you in person at a Pez convention down the road!

Pezhead Monthly Spotlight: Dennis Gilkey | top

In April 2024, Pezhead Monthly featured “A Pezzy Party,” which was an awesome Pez song parody and picture by the talented Dennis Gilkey.

For this issue, I’d like to once again shine the Pezhead Monthly Spotlight on Dennis. Along with co-author Arthur Gaudreau, Dennis recently published a book called “Collecting The Jiminy Cricket Pez,” which is available on Amazon here.

While I don’t have a copy of this book in my hands yet, I have to say that it’s a pretty cool idea to do a deep dive into the vintage Jiminy Cricket Pez dispenser. The book breaks down all kinds of Jiminy variations in colors, buttons, springs, patent numbers, countries of origin, injection mold codes, and much more. I am very happy to have a Jiminy Cricket dispenser in my collection, and although I have not jumped too far down the rabbit hole of vintage Pez variations, if I ever do this for Jiminy I know exactly the reference guide I’ll be using!

In conjunction with the release of the book, Dennis also put together a really cool stop-motion animation video with a plethora of Jiminy Crickets coming into a bar. To top it off, he used as the soundtrack the classic rock song “Shambala” by Three Dog Night. This really takes the concept of his “Pezzy Party” photo to the next level. It’s creative and dare I say pretty darn groovy. And it’s a perfect example of Pezhead Monthly’s philosophy to “think outside the dispenser.” I absolutely love it!

I'm unable to embed Dennis' video on this page, but I highly encourage you to check it out on YouTube here.

Congratulations on your “Collecting The Jiminy Cricket Pez” book, Dennis, and thank you for putting together and sharing this video!

Editor's Note: If you have a Pez webpage, YouTube channel, Instagram, book, or other media that you'd like me to shine the Pezhead Monthly Spotlight on in a future issue, or if you have some Pez poetry, artwork, or photography that you'd like to share, check out the Pezhead Monthly submission policy.

Pez Poetry | top

Pez Haiku #190

School’s out for summer,
But the learning continues
At Pez conventions.

Summer

We Pezheads look forward to Summer,
A season that’s rarely a bummer.
There’s garage sales galore,
Conventions and more,
To find Pez to add to our numbers.

Pezhead Monthly Celebrates June Birthdays | top

And finally, many notable people were born in January. Among these are Marilyn Monroe, George Michael, and Prince, who were all celebrated in the June 2021 issue of Pezhead Monthly.

But wait, there’s more! First off, Happy Birthday to Ice Cube (June 15), Tupac Shakur (June 16), and Bruce Campbell (June 22). Here are three Pez Almost-Quotes from the Pezhead Monthly archive that are based on famous quotes from each of these folks, respectively:

"You better check your Pez before you wreck your Pez."

"I didn't choose the Pez life, the Pez life chose me."

"Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the Pez dispenser."

Also, Happy Birthday to Rebecca Black (June 21). A photo still from her “Friday” video was Pezzified in the cover image for the April 2011 issue of Pezhead Monthly.

And lastly, Happy Birthday to Ariana Grande (June 26). A Pezzified version of a poster for her movie “Wicked” appeared as the cover image for the November 2024 issue of Pezhead Monthly.