Paper: Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, VA)
Title: A Few Of 'Our Favorite Things'
Kid-Product Calendar Puts Valley In Best Light
Date: November 23, 2007
HARRISONBURG -- Most calendars list the major holidays.
Take January, for example. On the 1st, you've got New Year's Day. On the 21st, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

And the 18th, Winnie the Pooh's Birthday.

It's not a typo. The offbeat holiday is a fitting addition to a calendar designed and sold by kids from the Harrisonburg Children's Museum. (Did you know, too, that January is National Thank You and Oatmeal Month?)

The 2008 calendar features upward of 65 photographs taken by local kids, said Lisa Shull, the museum's executive director.

"They've turned out such beautiful work," Shull said. "They worked so hard."

The second annual calendar is six months in the making. The first copies arrived fresh from the printer just two weeks ago. If the museum sells all 1,850 copies, Shull says, it will have more than $10,000 for its programs.

Already, more than 1,000 have been sold to businesses. The remaining calendars are selling for $14.95.

Members on the Youth Advisory Board, which spearheaded the project, decided they would name their calendar "Treasures of the Valley."

All year long, board members, who range from ages 10 to 14, took photos of landscapes and events around the Valley. They accepted submissions, as well.

The board ended up with what seemed like thousands of photographs.

"We put them in the middle of the table and went though all of them picking the best ones," said Lydia Hanson, 11.

It was tough to pick, said Emily Rheault, 12. "These are our favorite things in the Valley. They're treasures of the Valley."

The calendar includes shots of snow scenes, colleges, annual festivals and area landmarks.

In all, a number of kids contributed to the project, including Hanson, Rheault, Laura Baker, Emmett Copeland, Bryan Huffman, Caroline Shull, Stuart Baker, Madeline Culbreth, Andrew Krauss, Nicki Strickler, Carissa Boettger, Natalie Warner, Selah Myers, Michael Cardman and Sam Swayne.

They got some help from local experts. Longtime area photographer Allen Litten helped with photo sessions, Fred Showker worked on the graphic design, and Chester Bradfield and Good Printers helped with the calendar.

"It was a lot of work," said Culbreth, 12, "but it's amazing because we can look at the calendars and say, 'We created this.'"

Contact Kelly Jasper at 574-6273 or kjasper@dnronline.com
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