HANK THE COWDOG PROGRAM

From 2:00-4:00 p.m. on April 27th, 11 participants attended a Hank the Cowdog party at the Bucyrus Public Library. 15 were signed up prior to the event, so this was a good turnout.

The program began with Children’s Librarian Barb Scott reading a short biography of Hank creator John R. Erickson. Then it was on to a Hank the Cowdog trivia quiz. This quiz was created in Powerpoint and shown on the wall. Participants proved quite adept at answering questions about the characters and plots in the books.

Once the trivia quiz was done, the participants were taken around to 6 different craft tables, where Barb explained how the crafts were to be done. Then they were allowed to begin on the crafts.

Hank himself then made an appearance at the party and participants were allowed to come up one by one and have their pictures taken with him using the library’s digital camera. While the party went on, these pictures were taken upstairs and printed out and autographed by Hank! To "autograph" the photos, a stamp of a dog's paw was used. Each participant got to take their photo(s) home as a souvineer of the event.

The six craft tables were:

1. My Favorite Character–Each participant colored in a large cowboy hat that had in the center "My favorite Hank the Cowdog character is......., because......" . These hats will be used as a display for the wall on the second floor along with the pictures from the event.

2. Make a Bolo (String) Tie–the Ellison machine was used to make shapes (boot, covered wagon, bull) that the participants could cover with foil (to make it look like metal), tape a straw to the back, and string colorful craft yarn through. The bolos were tied at the bottom to prevent the shape from falling off. You will see many of these in the group picture.

3. Cowboy Vests–this was the age-old paper bag vest idea, decorated as the participant wished, fringed at the bottom, and topped off with an Ellison die sheriff’s badge. Several of these can also be seen in the group picture.

4. Paper Bag Cow Puppet–I wanted to use white paper bags but couldn’t come up with them. The pattern was downloaded from the Internet and the pieces were simply glued on to a lunch-sized brown paper bag. Participants added extra spots to their cows if desired.

5. Cowboy Hat/Cowboy Boot Magnets–participants had the choice of making one or two magnets. They colored the hat and boot shapes provided, decorating them as they wished. The shapes were then covered with contact paper and sticky magnet pieces were added so that these could be taken home and hung on the refrigerator.

6. Ranch Patrol Game–this game and all the pieces were in a packet we received. There was a gameboard and playing pieces, cards, and instructions. Participants were given two plastic bags, one small one for the cards, and a larger gallon size to fit all the other pieces into.

Once crafts were done, it was time to relax with snacks. Refreshments consisted of baby carrots with ranch dressing, ranch and cheddar cheese crackers, Texas Twister punch (red fruit juice and 7-Up combined), and Puppy Chow, served up in a large dog bowl! The Puppy Chow, in its large red bowl, was quite a hit!

Participants received their autographed Hank the Cowdog photos, and two lucky ones took home Hank the Cowdog posters.

Each participant received a gold or silver sheriff’s badge to take home, along with three Hank the Cowdog temporary tattoos. The tattoos were provided by Costume Specialists of Columbus, Ohio, from whom we rented the costume.