native son

Here's the letter from Winsor Robert McCay (great-grandson of artist Winsor McCay) that Kevin Collier read at the historical marker's unveiling:

Dear Mr. Collier and the Spring Lake Heritage Festival Committee,

On behalf of the McCay Family, I would like to take this opportunity to commend your organization and thank-you for honoring Winsor McCay at the McCay Day festivities. Our family would like to express their gratitude and are pleased that your organization has chosen to recognize Winsor McCay for his outstanding talents with this historical marker. It is fitting that you have chosen to honor him as a native son of Spring Lake. We know that this tribute will provide further inspiration and joy to future artists and fans worldwide.

His artistic genius and unique imagination were revealed at a young age in the village of Spring Lake. The foundation for this impressive ability as a master of both the comic strip and the animated cartoon is being recognized here today due to the hard work and determination of many of you. The dedication of this historical marker will remind us all to never stop dreaming or forget our childhood fantasies.

We regret that the family is unable to attend the festivities, but we look forward to visiting Spring Lake in the future. Again, thank-you for this wonderful tribute.

Best regards,
Winsor R. McCay

McCay Day 2009!

McCay Day 2009 was tons of fun! Thanks to everyone who planned, presented, and participated. It was a wonderful, memorable day! Here are a few highlights for anyone not able to make it...

Chef Jim LaPerriere prepared Welsh Rarebit for a full room. And woah-ho-ho-nelly... was it good...


The McCay Party held for the younger set included crafts...


...and cookie decorating.
(Here's what happens when you let kids loose with frosting)


Children's book author/illustrator Aaron Zenz took everyone on wild adventures with Little Nemo and his friends.


Then all the kids were invited to create one last dream for Little Nemo to explore:




That's one CRAZY dream!


Later in the day, cartoonist Kevin Collier guided a full house through a great comic class.


And the evening held one of the events we'd been dreaming of for years: the dedication of a marker honoring Winsor McCay in his hometown of Spring Lake.

A crowd begins gathering for the unveiling and dedication...


Greeting were given by Mark Miller, chairman of the Winsor McCay Memorial Committee and the Spring Lake Historic Conservation Commission.


Some thoughts were shared by animation expert and historian, Ray Pointer.


Kevin Collier reads a letter from Winsor Robert McCay, the great-grandson of Winsor McCay.


Some of the kids in attendance were invited to help with unveiling...


Ta-da!


Here's a view of the backside of the marker, while Michigan Historical Commission member Tom Trescott gives some concluding remarks.


All in all, one great day! Stop by to see McCay's new marker... And give thought to McCay Day 2010!

Historical Marker!!!

Great News! We are getting a Winsor McCay historical marker!

We knew this had been put in motion, but it's creation and delivery was supposed to take months and months to accomplish. However the folks at the Michigan Historical Commission loved the focus of the project so much, they bumped it ahead of all the other projects in line so that it could be ready in time for the Heritage Festival's "McCay Day" celebration!

So... everyone is cordially invited to attend the dedication ceremony of the Winsor McCay State of Michigan historical marker on Tuesday, June 16 at 6:30 p.m. The event will take place in the park located between the Spring Lake Township Hall and the Spring Lake District Library, 123 E. Exchange Street. The site is the one-time-location of Union School which McCay attended as a child and is directly across the street from the location of his childhood home. You are invited to remain at the library for the Ray Pointer presentation on Winsor McCay beginning at 8:00 p.m.

There is hope that McCay's grandson and/or great-grandson will even be flying in to attend the dedication.

The marker is set to be delivered next week. It will be installed and covered, awaiting the big reveal. In the meantime, its resting place has been dutifully marked with what we've now dubbed the "Winsor McCay Memorial Stick":

McCay Day Events

Join us for McCay Day 2009!

When: Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Where: Spring Lake District Library in Spring Lake, Michigan - Winsor McCay's hometown

10:30 a.m. McCay Day Party
Children ages 3 to 6 are invited to attend this fun filled party which will include cookie decorating, face painting, and a dinosaur craft. Special guest, artist and children's book author Aaron Zenz, will introduce us to Little Nemo and kick off a fun story time and art project!

2:00 p.m. I'm OK with McCay Cartoon Workshop
Artist and cartoonist Kevin Collier will highlight the art and life of Winsor McCay as well as lead a traditional cartooning and comics class. This program is designed for children in third grade and up.

7:00 p.m. Winsor McCay, Father of Animation
Ray Pointer, an animation expert and historian, discusses the many contributions of Winsor McCay to the world of animation. Currently the Creative Director of Inkwell Images, Pointer is also an instructor at the Kendall School of Design. With 40 years of professional experience in the field of animation, Pointer is a member of The Television Academy of Arts and Sciences Animation Peer Group, has worked with Nickelodeon Animation Studios and MGM Animation, and has over 300 credits to his name.

7:00 p.m. Winsor's Whimsical Creations
This fun program is designed for the kids. Boys and girls can participate in a scavenger hunt, put together their own Gertie the dinosaur puzzle, and paint a shirt.

McCay Day is on its way!

The 2nd Annual "McCay Day" Celebration has been scheduled! Join us on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at the Spring Lake District Library in Spring Lake, Michigan. The day's events are planned in conjunction with the Spring Lake Heritage Festival, held in Winsor McCay's hometown.

Details to come in the next post... In the meantime, here's a look back at some of the family fun we had last year!

























For all info regarding McCay Day - both this year and last - click HERE

Gertie makes her mark

The Spring Lake District Library in Spring Lake Michigan, Winsor McCay's hometown, recently held their annual bookmark making contest for elementary age students. This year kids were encouraged to create a bookmark featuring Gertie the Dinosaur. There were HUNDREDS of great submissions! Lots of budding artists reside in McCay's hometown. Here are a few favorites:

the location of Winsor McCay's childhood home

We've sure learned a lot since we started meeting a year ago. Here's a blurb from one of the very first posts on this blog:

Years ago I had asked someone at the Tri-Cities Museum if there was any way to know where McCay might have lived -- or even to determine a geographic location where we could say he had definitely been. She said she highly doubted it because the layout of Spring Lake is very different now because so many fires had destroyed the town since McCay's time. The fires had also destroyed most records from those days.

That post then went on to relay how excited we were to discover the site of McCay's former school... A plot of land right next door to the current site of the Spring Lake District Library:


Well since that early post, we've discovered the location of Winsor McCay's childhood home! Little did we know we were already looking at it... It was right here:


Turns out the site is right across the street, on the corner of Meridian and Tolford, in the spot where the First Baptist Church building now stands.



Here's some information about the site that librarian Chris Davis has pulled together:

Robert McKay, Winsor McCay’s father, came to Spring Lake to work in 1864 or ’65. Our collection of Assessment Rolls dates back to 1874. By that time, the McKay’s (McCay’s) owned a house at the corner of the current Tolford and Meridian Street. We do not know the date of the fire mentioned in Winsor's biography, but the McKay’s (McCay’s) owned that property throughout their life in Spring Lake. It would be logical to think that their house burned in one of the frequent fires, as Spring Lake had numerous sawmills at that time. They probably would’ve stayed with friends, temporarily, until their home was rebuilt. The house is gone by 1899, likely destroyed in the Spring Lake Fire of 1893.

Most written accounts tend to paint the McKays (McCays) as a rather transient family in Spring Lake. This is, apparently, not the case. Actually, Robert McKay was a land owner, near the center of the village (which was a status symbol in those times). He was well respected, as his service on the Village Council would attest. In 1874, he received 157 votes for Trustee, only about 90 less than the Village Recorder, who ran unopposed. Many of the people in political circles, at that time, are still known in the community today (Hunter Savidge, Aloys Bilz, etc.).

Overview

"Meeting McCay" has quite a few posts under its belt now... So I thought I'd take a second, back up, and provide an overview of what we're doing here and where we hope to go.

Late last year a small group of Spring Lake residents met to discuss fellow Spring Laker, Winsor McCay, and the disturbing lack of recognition here in his hometown. We brainstormed fabulous ways to mark his time spent here, but quickly realized our first step was going to have to be Education. Before a town can applaud a man, they have to know who he is. And very few people in Spring Lake had ever heard of Winsor McCay. So we came up with five steps to reintroduce Spring Lake to its most famous unknown son.

Step One: Start a good collection of McCay resources at the Spring Lake District Library
And boy, they've done that. When we first started meeting, the library had maybe two books on McCay and one DVD. In just a year they've amassed a Super collection of resources. And they are prominently displayed in their own special area. I try to review many of these resources here on the site as they come in.

Step Two: Start this blog
This is the 60th entry so far. Hopefully "Meeting McCay" can be a one-stop-spot for anyone seeking information on McCay - his life, his art, and they many ways he's been honored over the years. And it's intended to be place (for anyone who is interested) to keep up-to-date on the progress we're making in Spring Lake MI to create a permanent, physical, tribute to the man and his legacy.

Step Three:
Launch "McCay Day"
The first McCay Day was held in Spring Lake last month, and it was a great success! (You can read about it in posts below...) We hope to make McCay Day an annual event. This last year was a learning experience, and we hope to make the event bigger, grander, and farther-reaching year by year.

Step Four: Post a Historical Marker
In less than a year, we've accomplished steps 1 through 3. Step four, a Marker, is our current focus. Right now there is Nothing physically acknowledging McCay's presence in Spring Lake. Not a plaque, not a sign, not a name on a bench. We'd like to get a big historical marker, with good biographical content, and place it near the location of his childhood home or school. We're looking at our choices, examining costs, and weighing all the options. This is a huge next step.

Step Five: A Permanent Physical Memorial
This is the ultimate goal. We've talked about lots of ways to pay tribute to McCay in his hometown. Here are a few of the many things we've discussed:

• Name a park after him
• Name a street after him
• Start a McCay Art Scholarship for local students
• Hold an annual Film Festival
• Sprinkle bronze Dinosaur Footprints around town with McCay content
• Start a collection of original McCay art
• Start a Tribute Gallery of art by other professionals inspired by McCay
• Build a Statue

All these are good ideas, and we hope to do as many of them as we can. But I think our hearts are set on the Statue most of all. A statue of McCay... or of Gertie... or of Little Nemo characters... or all of them mingled together. A statue to be placed either in an existing park, or a new park designed specifically for this. We're dreaming big.


Illustrator Aaron Zenz whipped up this concept drawing for us, and I think it's a good place to start. I won't repeat in this post what I've already said before, so you can read more about the statue ideas here. But that's what the Big Goal is. That's our Rarebit Dream. It'll be expensive, and take lots of planning and fund raising. But I think McCay deserves a monument Somewhere in the world. And why not here in his hometown?

So Reader, what do you make of all this? Is McCay and his work worthy of a physical Tribute? Feel free to throw your thoughts into the comments area...

Michelangelo's Pieta

In addition to introducing Spring Lake citizens to Winsor McCay, we also hope to use this blog to introduce its visitors to Spring Lake. Those of you with a taste for art history will be especially interested to discover that Spring Lake, Michigan is home to one of only three exact replicas of Michelangelo's Pieta.


In 1964 Michelangelo's original Pieta was put on public display at the World Fair. Millions of people who otherwise would have never gotten the chance to see this masterpiece now could enjoy it firsthand. However, just in case some unforeseen disaster should befall, before moving the statue from Rome, a mold was made directly from the original marble and three replicas were cast.

The first casting resides at the Vatican, the second is in Iowa, and the third is right here in Spring Lake Michigan. It resides outside St. Mary's, right up the street from Spring Lake District Library and the former sites of Winsor McCay's childhood school and home. The statue boasts exact reproduction of every minute detail from Michelangelo's original. You can read more about this treasure at St. Mary's website, here.

Celebrity Pop Star

The Grand Haven Tribune had a nice article about McCay Day. Below are some excerpts I found very cool -- apparently our efforts to get McCay recognized in Spring Lake are working! Had no idea a second grade teacher was onboard and introducing kids to McCay! Read on:

More than 50 youngsters gathered Tuesday morning at Spring Lake District Library for the cartooning workshop, which featured McCay history and art lessons by longtime McCay fan and Tribune graphic artist Kevin Collier.

Children who were not involved in the standing-room-only event stumbled upon the library's McCay display and books as if he was a celebrity pop star.

"Winsor McCay is awesome," said Gray, 8, who will be a third-grader next year. "Our teacher taught us about him. I know all about "Gertie." I like how he makes his pictures pop out. He's a really great artist."

Rachel said she couldn't wait until the McCay books are off the library's display and available for checking out. "I looked at the author (on display) and said, 'Oh, my gosh, this is Winsor McCay stuff,'" she said. "We learned about him in school."

"I've waited 18 years for this," said Collier, who joined a local Winsor McCay recognition committee about a year ago and has been teaching cartooning in schools for almost three decades. "It's nice to see the recognition for Winsor McCay. I've been telling the story over and over again. He was raised right here."

You can read the whole article here: SL Heritage Festival kicks off by honoring animation pioneer

McCay Day 2008! (Part One)

McCay Day has arrived! All 3 events at the Spring Lake District Library drew big crowds, and everyone had a Great time. Today kicked off with tons of fun for Preschoolers as they were introduced to Winsor McCay's Gertie. Here are Gertie shaped Dino-Buddies and cookies waiting for the kids to arrive:


And someone was going to win this GIANT layered Gertie Cookie!


Let the Buddy stuffing begin!



Decorating those cookies...


Happy buddies with their Buddies...


Winners of the GIANT cookie:


Then it was time to decorate that super 10 foot Gertie...


Here's the finished product!


Thanks to the library for all the great work that went into this -- and thanks to you Spring Lake for coming!