Spring Lake Township Board to consider Winsor McCay memorial

Mon, Aug 25, 2008    to del.icio.us

SPRING LAKE TOWNSHIP — The Township Board tonight will discuss dedicating a plaque or monument to famed cartoonist Winsor McCay, who was born in Spring Lake in 1871.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Spring Lake Township Hall, 106 S. Buchanan St.

Spring Lake Village recently honored the animation artist during its Heritage Festival with a Winsor McCay Day.

Members of the Winsor McCay committee hope the township will dedicate township-owned land between the Township Hall and Spring Lake District Library on Exchange Street to celebrate the artist's local roots and the former site of his school.

McCay's young talent was first recognized when he drew a picture of a Spring Lake fire that destroyed his family home. He etched the scene in the frost of a window pane at a neighbor's house.

After the steamer Alpena sank in Lake Michigan, McCay fashioned a likeness on a Union School chalkboard. Union School once stood between the current Township Hall and district library. A photographer reportedly took photos of McCay's early drawings and sold them as prints.

Walt Disney said he borrowed techniques from McCay, who died in 1934 and is buried in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Each year at the Annie Awards (the equivalent of the Oscars to the animation world), the Winsor McCay Award is presented to the person considered tops in that field.

McCay is best known for his fictional characters "Gertie" the dinosaur and "Nemo," a little boy with a wild imagination.