He survived by selling wooden buttons made on a homemade foot-powered lathe.
Some also sold anti-apartheid buttons and African wood carvings.
Enterprising merchants sold orange buttons and large stocks of ribbon to the eager crowds.
I sell buttons with the Kansas 150 logo.
A lot of people have been calling asking if they can sell T-shirts and buttons.
It has a gift shop that sells buttons, teapots, soaps, and art.
"In the first World War, the business only survived because they sold buttons," he said.
The Slaters no longer sell old buttons for pennies, but otherwise their business is much the same as the one their father started.
They still sell new buttons for a quarter, and they don't copyright their designs.
People are selling buttons and campaign posters and manning phone banks.