Fisher Price Friday - Play Family Village

It's another big set so hold onto your seats, lots of photos are coming!  Today on Fisher Price Friday it's the Play Family Village #997.  The village was made from 1973-1977 and is the largest play set with the most accessories (not counting the school with all the different alphabet letters).  The set is large and somewhat unwieldy, can be difficult to carry around and keep together.  However, it is very fun with a variety of shops, stores and places for kids to make-believe.

The set has two halves that are held together by a removable bridge connector.  The bridge connector has a traffic signal that changes color when you turn the knob.  There is a white handle on top for carrying it around.

There are 32 accessories in the set including 9 people (almost all pictured correctly above, the boy should be smiling).  The vehicles include a fire truck, blue police car (not pictured), white and blue mail truck (as pictured), green top/white bottom 2 seater car (shown in the 1st photo), white top/green base 2 seater car (side to side, not shown) and a green top/white base single seater car (not shown accurately in the first photo).  There are many vehicle variations by the way in color combinations and whether or not "Fisher Price" was stamped on the wheels.

The furniture includes a yellow fireman's "cot" (twin bed), yellow table with a green umbrella (not red as pictured), 4 yellow captain's chairs, 2 seat yellow couch, yellow coffee table, barber chair, dental chair and a yellow grill with separate legs.

Last but not least the set includes a phone booth (the blue mailbox does not belong with this set, there is already a mailbox molded into the set).  The telephone booth has a orange door that opens and shuts.  The back has a lithograph of a pay phone and phone book.

The red side of the set includes a Fire House, Post Office, Theatre, Dentist and rooftop restaurant.  There are mail slots in each business.  The firehouse door opens and closes and a crank on the roof makes a whirring sound.  The fire truck is the same Fire Truck #124.  

The street has a red mailbox and a green and white street light (on a spring).  The plastic base has molded in features like brick on the Fire House, stairs between the shops, lines on the doors and slats on the roof.

The boy should be smiling, but can you blame him since he's at the dentist?  The dentist office has a yellow "tile" floor and a lithograph of old school dental equipment.  There is a little picture of teeth on the top and a window on the opposite side of the room.  The dentist chair has a spitting sink on one side.

The blue post office door opens and shuts.  The floor is a lithograph of linoleum with Post Office stickers (including a loading zone for the PO truck).  The lithograph has a smiling postal worker, bag of mail, mailboxes, clock and a few other mail items.  

The set comes with 6 pieces of mail matching up with the different stores.  Each shop is printed in black with a different colored number (unlike the Main Street #2500 mail which is the same color printing and number).  The letters fit in the mail slots at each business, in the back of the mail truck and in the mailbox on the side of the set (once again, this blue mailbox does not go with the set).  Due to it's size, mail was easily lost and is one of the more valuable parts of the set.  I see them on eBay selling individually for around $6-9 each.

The Theatre has built-in seats for 4, a yellow stage and a lithograph of a movie screen and curtains.  The movie is a scene from the Village of course.  It shows everyone at work (fireman putting out a fire).  The yellow door opens and shuts and there is a ticket booth.

The roof has "The Village Restaurant".  The entrance to the Restaurant is shown on a lithograph downstairs.  It also has a poster and some bushes (seen in the 2nd photo above).  There are stairs on the front that lead up to the restaurant and the Dentist Office.

The yellow half of the set includes a Police Station, Barber Shop, Apartment and Garage.  There is also a rooftop deck.  In front of the Police Station there is a red fire hydrant.

In between the Barber Shop and the Garage there is a gas pump.  Colorful lithographs show the different shops and their "address" numbers, which correspond with the mail.

The upstairs has an apartment that is reached by white stairs.  Each side of the apartment has a deck.  The apartment has a lithograph on the floor of a rug with a cat on a pillow.  There is a window seat that has a lithograph of a record player, television set, some books and a cabinet.

The Garage has an open door and a crank that lifts a red car lift up and down.

Next to the Garage is the Barber Shop.  It has a lithograph of an old time barber including jars of cotton and lollipops.  Also various jars and boxes of cosmetics.  A boys haircut will set you back 25 cents.  The white barber chair looks just like the dentist chair but without the spitting sink on the side.

Next to the barber is the Police Station.  It has bars on the outside window and a jail cell that opens and closes (with room for a prisoner inside).  The lithograph on the wall shows wanted photos, a brown dog, old fashioned telephone, window with bars and a police officer's uniform.

One side of the set (shown closed) has posters advertising the Main Street Steak House and a Village Market Grocer.

It's a happy little village.  I don't have one for sale in my Etsy shop right now, but keep checking back as I may have one next month.

If you like towns check out the Main Street #2500, a newer (and smaller) version of the #997 Village.