LPWire: Ziggy Artist, Other Cartoonists, Gather For Tribute at Disney Birthplace
Ziggy Artist, Other Cartoonists, Gather For Tribute at Disney Birthplace
TOONFEST 2005, a free public festival featuring a
gathering of some of the world's best-known cartoonists, will be held on Sept.
16-17 in Marceline, Missouri, the childhood hometown of Walt Disney.
TOONFEST 2005, a free public festival featuring a gathering of some of the
world's best-known cartoonists, will be held on Sept. 16-17 in Marceline,
Missouri, the childhood hometown of Walt Disney.
The event, open to the general public, will feature several cartoonists,
including Cincinnati resident Tom Wilson, artist for the nationally syndicated
comic, ZIGGY, and president of Cleveland based Ziggy and Friends, Inc. Walt
Disney has particular significance for Wilson and ZIGGY this year, as ZIGGY will
make his animated debut in Ziggy's Gift, a holiday special DVD to be released by
BFS Multimedia Entertainment this Fall. Ziggy's Gift, a hand-drawn animated
feature, shows Disney's multimedia influence as Ziggy arrives on screen 68 years
after Walt Disney's first feature length animated film, Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs which was released to the public in 1937.
Wilson will be on hand for meet and greet autographs, drawing demonstrations and
speaking engagements. He will speak at the Marceline Uptown Theater on Fri.,
Sept. 16 at 12:30PM to a student (high school, college) audience and on Sat.,
Sept. 17 at 3:20 to the general public audience about his personal accounts of
the influence Disney and the town of Marceline has had on the life and times of
ZIGGY.
Joining Wilson for the Toonfest tribute is a multitude of talented cartoonists,
who will gather at Marceline's vintage Uptown Theater for a feature panel to
interact with audiences. Guests will include Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial
cartoonist Jim Borgman (co-creator of the comic strip "Zits"), Glenn and Gary
McCoy ("Flying McCoys" and "The Duplex"), Tony Baxter (Senior Vice President of
Creative Development at Walt Disney Imagineering), Tom Richmond (Mad Magazine
cartoonist), and Charles Solomon, an internationally recognized animation
critic.
All Toonfest headliners will be Grand Marshals in a gala parade up and down Main
Street USA beginning Saturday morning at 10. Other Saturday events include a
cartoon exhibit sponsored by the National Cartoonists Society North Central
Chapter at the Masonic Hall. Included will be works by Toonfest headliners and
the opportunity to meet them in person. All professional cartoonists are invited
to submit their work for exhibition to the Toonfest Office, for arrival by Sept.
14. Cartoons will be returned to creators postage paid.
More activities available for Toonfest attendees include original cartoons and
cartoonists' autographed books auction; the Walt Disney Museum, featuring a
collection of Walt Disney life in Marceline memorabilia; live entertainment,
food, an apple pie eating contest, craft booths, Barnyard Olympics, and a bait
casting competition at Ripley Pond. All programs are free to the public.
The town of Marceline is 120 miles northeast of Kansas City. The Toonfest is
sponsored in part by Andrews McMeel Universal, a Kansas City, Mo.-based media
company, providing the world with books, calendars, newspaper features, film/TV,
online and wireless content and much more.
For more Toonfest information, including events, schedule, how to get there and
where to stay; and about submitting cartoons to the Toonfest exhibition, contact
a Toonfest Ambassador at
[email protected], 660-376-9258, or Walt Disney's Hometown Toonfest,
207 N. Main St. USA, Marceline, MO 64658. Visit
www.toonfest.net.
--Posted September 12, 2005
Source: Toonfest