Brundidge children gather in honor of  Dr. Seuss’ birthday

The Cat in the Hat and Brundidge Mayor Jimmy Ramage were the distinguished guests at the Dr. Seuss birthday party hosted by the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library Thursday afternoon.

Eighty-plus children crowded Brundidge Station to celebrate the birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, which is on March 2 but was celebrated a few days later due to the Black History celebration at the library.

Geisel was born March 2, 1904 and died in September 1991. But Dr. Seuss lives through the many stories that span generations of children.

“All children love the Dr. Seuss books,” said Jennifer Amlong, children’s librarian at the Brundidge public library. “They look forward to Dr. Seuss’ birthday party every year. It is the largest event that we have during the school year. Children of all ages participate and we have a lot of parents who come and have as much fun as the children. We believe the Read Across America program, which celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday, is a good way to get children interested in reading and keep them reading.”

Amlong said that it might not take a village to plan and carry out a Dr. Seuss birthday party but it does take the entire library staff and a lot of volunteers.

“We couldn’t do it without our volunteers,” she said. “Quite a few older home school students participate and it’s always good to see young people involved. We appreciate and thank all of those who helped make this Dr. Seuss birthday party such a great success.”

The Cat in the Hat, a.k.a. Damika Rodgers read a couple of Dr. Seuss books to the party goers and the mayor welcomed the children and their parents. He thanked the library staff and volunteers and encouraged everyone to continue to visit and use the services of the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library.

“The library is one of our most valuable assets,” Ramage said. “It’s yours to use and enjoy.”

Amlong led the children in a couple of wild and crazy dances before they played games, made crafts and enjoyed Dr. Seuss-inspired refreshments, such as red candy fish swimming in blue water of “unknown” origin.

None of the children seemed disappointed that there were no green eggs and ham.

“It was a fun day and we look forward to all the summer activities that we have planned for the children at the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library,” Amlong said.