BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Hundreds attend birthday celebration for Dr. Seuss at Cohoes-Waterford Elks
COHOES, N.Y. >> It’s not often that a birthday party draws 300 people out in 30- degree weather on a gray Saturday morning in the Northeast, but this was for Dr. Seuss and there were green eggs and ham for breakfast.
The Cohoes-Waterford Elks held its first Dr. Seuss Breakfast fundraiser Saturday in recognition of what would have been Theodor Geisel’s (aka Dr. Seuss) 115th birthday. His books, The Grinch, The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and Horton Hears a Who is popular with young children even though they may not know he wrote them.
Instead of a birthday cake, the Elks offered a birthday breakfast menu of green eggs, ham, Grinch cakes, Hoo hash, Woo donuts, and moose juice. There was plenty for all. The food filled the stomachs of young and old and never ran out despite what
appeared to be a constant line at the lodge door.
The party started at 9 a.m. and by 9:10 a.m. one could see groups of children being dropped off at the front door of the lodge at 45 North Mohawk Street, wearing the familiar tall, red and white stovepipe hats from the Cat in the Hat book.
In addition to the breakfast, the event offered families a photo stand with Dr. Seuss props, temporary tattoos, readings of the books, a coloring station, continuous screening of movies made from the book, and roving Elks Club members dressed as the Cat in the Hat and the Grinch.
“You should have a Grinch cake because there’s sunshine and smiles in there,” said Thing 2 (aka Elks member Stephanie Gilbert) as a visitor entered the lodge.
“This is a fundraiser for the Elks, so we can continue to do community outreach,” said Elks Trustee Lorraine Hobart. “Our Exalted Ruler, Leading Knight, and Loyal Knight are cooking in the kitchen with some of our members there are more members on the serving line.”
The critiques of the food from the children and the adults were all positive. Everyone seemed to have no problem digging into the green eggs with many cleaning their plates and going back for more.
Eli St. John, 6, dressed appropriately in a Cat in the Hat hat, was one of many who cleaned his plate.
“The eggs taste like the yellow ones,” he said. “I thought they’d taste like cauliflower.”
Asked if he had read the book, St. John said he had read it in school.
“I even have the movies,” he said. “The Cat in the Hat is my favorite.”
Sitting across from him was his mother, Casey Hallenbeck, with her two younger children, Bentley Rogers, 2, and Greyson Rogers, 1.
“We came out for the whole thing,” she said, “the breakfast, the movies, the reading, everything.”
At the photo stand Abe Middleton, 7, and his brother, Harvey Middleton, 3, posed for a photo with the Cat in the Hat.
“I had the green eggs, ham, Grinch cakes, a donut, and juice,” Abe Middleton said. “The best thing was the donuts.”
Not far away, Aiden Pierre, 12, finished up a plate of eggs. Seated next to him was Cameron Sheehan, 8.
“I read Cat in the Hat a long time ago,” Pierre said. “It’s been about four years. I think the best thing about the breakfast was the eggs.”
“I liked the ham the best,” chimed in Sheehan.
Jordan Miller, 8, and Kaimer Butler, 10, were two more youngsters at the breakfast. They came with their aunt and were loading up on the calories before heading to a kid’s expo in Albany.
“These eggs taste the same as regular eggs,” Miller said between bites.
Gabriel Gillespie, 5, and his sister, Abigail Gillespie, 3, came to the breakfast dressed as two Cats in the Hat. When the life-size Cat in the Hat walked by Gabriel went over and posed for photos with him, but seeing the large Cat proved too intimidating for Abigail. She jumped behind her father for protection before peeking out at her brother’s photo op.
Hunter McKenna, 5, had no problem with the lifesize Cat in the Hat. After walking in the Elks lodge door, he moved quickly up to him, gave him a high five birthday greeting, and posed for a photo.
“We came out for the breakfast, to see the Cat in the Hat, and to enjoy the good company of our friends,” said his mother Daniella McKenna.