Friday Funday: Mickey Mousing Around

This has not exactly been a quiet week in the newsmedia. It began with the first teacher's strike in 25 years in Chicago. Then Mitt Romney decided to pour gas on the political fires flaring up in the Middle East. Finally, after far too long on the sidelines, the Fed got off its collective backside and began to help kick the economy back into gear. With all the drama, we're incredibly glad to be getting out of town for the weekend - and we hope you have a chance to join us.

For more years than we can easily remember, when mid-September hits, as many of our staff members as possible pack up our gear and head to The Middle of Nowhere, Missouri - better known to many cartoonists as Marceline, Missouri, the site of the annual Disney Hometown Toonfest.

For those Daily Felltoon readers who may be unaware, the real source of Disney magic is not in Southern California or Central Florida, no matter how many millions the House of Mouse has spent to convince you otherwise.

The real-life place where Walt Disney got so much of his inspiration for the many worlds he drew, wrote about, and created is in the Midwest, in the small town of Marceline, Missouri - the town where Walt Disney grew up.

As some of the Disney Hometown Toonfest's oldest sponsors, we're proud that once again Paul Fell Cartoons and the North Central Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) can help promote this great event. If you're anywhere in the Midwest this weekend, we highly recommend you take the scenic drive, and join us.

This year's crop of professional cartoonists and presenters includes a rogue's gallery of some of our closest friends and chapter members.

Paul Coker Jr., one of the original "Mad" magazine staffers and an illustrator for Rankin-Bass for many years, will be giving an amazing presentation. So will legendary animator, cartoonist - and North Central Chapter member - Kelly McNutt, just off a recent trip to the beach.

Freelance illustrator and cartoonist Buck Jones, who's worked for everyone from Allied Insurance to Team Red Bull will also be giving a symposium on his more than twenty years of great work. Finally, Chris Payne, better known to many as C.F. Payne, legendary illustrator for Time, Readers Digest, The Atlantic Monthly and many more publications, will round out the headlining artists.

For us, Toonfest is more than just a great time to get together with other professionals in the cartooning and illustrations part of the media business.

Sure - there will be parades, contests and events for both adults and kids, and a cartooning gallery with work from some of the nation's best cartoonists. But that's just the stuff on the schedule.

It's also a way to celebrate the coming of autumn, a chance to catch up with old friends, meet some new ones, and see the work of great cartoonists we're proud to share our broader media field with.

We know things in world news haven't exactly been slow lately, and chances are good that things in your corner of the known universe haven't exactly been slow either. Still, if you have a chance this weekend, get away somewhere like Marceline, where you can push away your worries and hang out with some cartoonists - even for just a day.

We can guarantee; it'll help you draw a whole new perspective on life.