117th Toy Fair Kicks Off in New York

New York's 117th Toy Fair kicked off Saturday at Manhattan's Jacob K. Javits Center, attracting more than 1,000 exhibitors from around the world to showcase some 150,000 toys, games and youth entertainment products.

Produced by The Toy Association, the annual event will last four days. The show floor would host more than 25,000 foreign play practitioners to experience items worth close to eight football fields.

American basketball star Shaquille O'Neal joined Saturday's ribbon-cutting ceremony, after a parade of costumed characters.

Steve Pasierb, president & CEO of The Toy Association, said that being the largest toy show in the Western Hemisphere, the fair is the international marketplace for professionals looking to tap into the US $27 billion toy industry and see the industry's creativity and innovation at work firsthand.

Inaugurated in 1903, the toy fair takes place each February in New York City as a trade-only event.

Source: Xinhua