Celebrate 30 Years Of Joy At The Happy Factory’s Open House

The Happy Factory in Cedar City, Utah, is preparing for a milestone celebration during its annual open house on August 23, 2025. This year marks both the 30th anniversary of the nonprofit and the 90th birthday of its co-founder, Donna Cooley. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 896 N. 2175 W., also known as Happy Factory Lane.

During a recent KSUB radio interview hosted by Neal Smith of the Intergenerational Poverty Committee, Donna Cooley and her daughter, Jolene Perkins, shared the history and purpose of the Happy Factory. Since its founding in 1995 by Donna and her late husband, Charles, the organization has produced and shipped more than 1.85 million wooden toys worldwide.

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“We have to raise approximately $70,000 a year to run, to buy the wheels, the axle pegs and all the little things that make the toys,” Cooley explained. The open house will feature unique handmade items, with suggested donations helping cover annual operating costs. “We love every one of them that come. They come with enthusiasm,” she added.

Perkins noted that this year’s open house will highlight new children’s toys, including a magnetic fishing game and small wooden houses. “We’d like to focus on how we all are part of a village and we’d like everyone to come and receive a little home,” she said. “Nothing at the Happy Factory is no cost to it. Everything is provided there by volunteers.”

Visitors will have the chance to tour the factory, beginning where the donated wood arrives. “It’s just fun to see that particular process and how volunteers help put all of the pieces together that actually become a toy,” Perkins said. The process includes sawing, sanding, oiling, and attaching wheels before toys are shipped out, often in quantities of 3,000 to 5,000 per month.

Happy Factory Starts From Humble Beginnings

The Happy Factory’s beginnings were modest. “We retired… in 1995 and immediately started making toys,” Cooley recalled. The first deliveries went to Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City, which has received 200 toys every month since. Growth eventually forced the operation out of the Cooley’s garage. Dave Grant of Metalcraft Technology offered them free space for seven years, covering rent, utilities, and phone service. “We owe Dave Grant a big thank you,” Cooley said.

Charles Cooley, Perkins shared, “liked to dream… liked to figure out a way that something would work.” His toy patterns, developed with the university, became the distinct Happy Factory style—simple, durable, and universal.

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For more information about the event or to support the Happy Factory’s mission, visit www.happyfactory.org.

You can listen to our entire visit with Cooley and Perkins in the podcast below.