Old Settlers Winds Up, Down, and All Around

Today was the last for the 2011 Old Settlers Festival.  Our Tuesday (8/9/11) visitor count to the Library's two booths was 216.  That brings our grand total of booth visitors to (drum roll please . . .) 852.

Many thanks to Truly Nice Gentleman, OfficeMeister, Programma Mama, and the Lady With the Red Hair for their tremendous efforts distributing information, goodie bags, and general good will.  Special thanks to all of the Old Settlers attendees who dropped by our tables and who entered our buggy basket giveaway contest.  We're glad you included the Library in your rounds through the community organizations tents.

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted, and I was only there as "flat Cauli."  Could be a reason there somewhere.

Too Pooped to Blog,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Old Settlers News Beat

P.S.  Speaking of being tired, there's "I'm Only Sleeping," by the Beatles, from the album Revolver (1966), digitally remastered in 2009.

P.P.S.  Time for bed.  There's "Good Night," by the Beatles, from the "White Album" (The Beatles, 1968).

Call for Cauli at Old Settlers

Several visitors to my Library's booths at the Old Settlers Festival have noticed my "I Geek" poster or my "flat Cauli" facsimile photo, which the Lady With the Red Hair affixed to a cardboard cut-out of moi.  Minions reported the following snippets of conversation from among my fans who dropped by our booths.

"There's that library cat!"

"It's the cat that writes that online thing."

"The [library's] cat is really cute."

"What does that mean?" (pointing to my name)

"Look, it's Cauli" (pronounced as Cay-Lee) (but see corrective note below).

"Is that the cat at your library?"

(And so on.)  Both adults and children recognized my photo, but my absolute favorite was the tiny girl person who walked up to my roving reporter photo (used for "flat Cauli"), saw my press pass in the hatband of my fedora, and pressed it with her finger.  That, my friends, is masterful deductive thinking.  I don't know a single adult human who could have made that intellectual leap.  Keep your eye on that little gal; someday she will be running the show, make no mistake.

Press Here (Purrrrrrrr...)

Corrective note:  It's pronounced Call-Lee, like the vegetable cauliflower.  But Cay-Lee has a nice ring to it, too.

Visitor count for our booths Monday (8/8/2011) at Old Settlers:  203.  Two-day total is 636 thus far.  One more day!  Be sure to stop by later today, since it's now Tuesday morning.  Reporter's deadlines, you know.

Have Your Photo Taken With "Flat Cauli," If Your Phone Has a Camera,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Old Settlers News Beat

P.S.  Thinking about all those folks at Old Settlers who recognized moi reminded me of "Limelight," by Rush, from the Moving Pictures album (1981).

Old Settlers Festival is Hot, Hot, Hot!

As air temperatures hit 95-plus degrees (Fahrenheit) (that's 35-plus degrees Celsius) yesterday, and the heat index was about 110 degrees (again, Fahrenheit; 43.33 degrees Celsius), I was ever so grateful to have minions representing moi at the annual Old Settlers Picnic, Fair, Festival, and Overall BigBash at Pioneer Park in Mooresville, Indiana.  In a word, it was just too hot.  (Okay, that's three words.)

But minions are no duty-shirkers, and so they soldiered on, in the best possible fashion.  Well, Truly Nice Gentleman and the Lady With the Red Hair did.  Scowl-Face, not so much.

We have some photos from our (count 'em!) TWO Library booths at this year's BigBash.

Same Stuff We Gave Away at Zydeco's Fundraiser Last Week

My Library's "I Geek" Posters

(From the Geek the Library Campaign)

Actual Prize From Library's Contest

"Win an Authentic Old Settlers Buggy Basket"

(Complete With Automotive Goodies)

(Conservatively a $150 Value)

For the second consecutive year, Baskets From Junior's Farm donated the basket, which was hand-woven by none other than the Lady With the Red Hair herself.  That's quite a prize, I should think.  But Programma Mama sweetened the deal with the cool auto stuff.  It's all free, and all you have to do is visit my Library's booth at this year's Old Settlers BigBash and sign-up.  Easy and fun to do.  Can't beat that combination!

Day one of Old Settlers saw 433 visitors to My Library's booths.  That must be some kind of record turnout!  Considering that today's heat could melt lead, it says a great deal about Old Settler attendees' endurance.

Just two more days to go!  Stop by our booths, get a free bag of Library doodads, and sign-up for a chance to win a free buggy basket.  It's too hot to do anything else.

We Come From Tough Stock,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Old Settlers News Beat

P.S.  Although Old Settlers is not the county fair in Morgan County, Indiana, we thought it appropriate to close with "County Fair," by Bruce Springsteen, from the CD The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003).

Library Float Wows in Old Settlers Parade

Congrats aplenty to Broadway Gal and her expert team of assemblers, designers, and, bringing it all together, parade participants on this year's library float in the annual Old Settlers Parade.  As was the case last year, the library float once again wowed the spectators, who were dazzled by the colossal magnificence of it all.  Or the sun could have been in their eyes.  Your call.

No kidding, the library float was spectacular!  Broadway Gal's elite team created and designed the theme, which was Are You Evergreen?  This, of course, posed the question to onlookers:  Do you have a library card, and, if so, is your library a member of the Evergreen Indiana (E.I.) consortium?  If you are a card-holding patron at Mooresville Public Library, Morgan County Public Library, Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library, Greenwood Public Library, or any of the more than 90 public, school, academic, or specialty libraries across the state who belong to E.I., then your proud answer would be in the affirmative.  In addition to the visual art of the float and the monster truck pulling it (well, it was a mighty big truck!), a sound system was included, playing a series of library songs, including Broadway Gal's own now-famous (perhaps infamous) parody, "Librarians Do Taio Cruz."  If you haven't already seen it, you should be ashamed of yourself.

This year's parade performance team was highly disciplined, well-drilled, and, in a word, full of panache.  (Okay, that's three words.)  Once again, Broadway Gal has gotten the best performances from her crew of talented parade teamsters.  Want some photos?  It's about time.

Hope you had a chance to watch the Old Settlers Parade, which never disappoints.  It has a long, storied history that Scowl-Face would only be too happy to drone on about.  We even have some historic photos at the Library about the parade.  Here's one of them.

Great job, everybody!  You make our Library look so good.



Proud to Work at MPL,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Old Settlers News Beat

P.S.  Our musical closer just had to be "Librarians Do Taio Cruz" (2010), written and directed by Broadway Gal, and performed by my colleagues at Mooresville Public Library.