Hop to It

"Going green" could mean focusing on recycling and reducing your carbon footprint. Or it could mean you're into frogs. If it's the latter, you'll be in good company at the Foundry Art Centre (520 North Main Center, St. Charles; 636-255-0270 or www.foundryartcentre.org) when it hosts a Frog-Jumping Contest. Now, this event may sound strange or out of place at an arts venue. Allow us to explain. See, the cultural center has teamed up with St. Charles Community College to present one of the St. Louis area's Big Read efforts (the Big Read is a national literary program that encourages folks to read one specific book as a community). The chosen book for the St. Louis region is Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. To promote reading this novel and to make it really easy, the Foundry hosts all kinds of events, including the aforementioned froggy one, which aim not only to enrich the literary experience, but also to get free books in people's hands. Now, these frogs we're writing about aren't real ones; they are origami creations you and yours will make at the arts venue, as a nod to Twain's short story "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." The frog that jumps the farthest in the 2 p.m. contest is eligible for prizes (natch), and as an added bonus, books will be distributed at the event as well.
Sat., Feb. 6, 2010