Dr. Seuss memorial sculpture park opens

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., May 31 (UPI) -- It's a Green Eggs and Ham weekend in Springfield, Mass., and even the Grinch can't spoil the fun.

Springfield on Friday kicked off a weekend-long celebration honoring native son Theodor Seuss Geisel, known by children of all ages worldwide as Dr. Seuss.

The city unveiled the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden in the quadrangle at Springfield Library and Museums, with bronze figures created by his stepdaughter, sculptor Lark Grey Dimond-Cates.

"By creating the memorial, we hope to spark imagination and creativity in a new generation," Joseph Carvalho III, president of the Springfield Library and Museums Association, said in Friday's Springfield Union-News.

"Dr. Seuss drew much of his inspiration from his own neighborhood in Springfield," Carvalho said. "It's all still here just waiting for a creative mind to discover it."

Geisel, under his Dr. Seuss pen name, wrote and illustrated 44 children's books, four of which are among the top 10 hard-cover sellers of all time -- "The Cat in the Hat," "Green Eggs and Ham," "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," and "Hop on Pop."

Awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for his lifetime of work, Geisel saw his books translated into 15 languages, with more than 400 million copies in print.

Geisel was born in Springfield in 1904 and died in La Jolla, Calif., in 1991 at the age of 87.

The $6.2 million park centers on a sculpture of Dr. Seuss working at his drawing board with the rabble-rousing Cat in the Hat peering over his shoulder. Nearby is a 14-foot Horton the Elephant sitting on a giant open book with friends Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose, Sally and her brother, and Sam-I-Am with a plate of Green Eggs and Ham.

Other characters also brought to life are the Grinch, Gertrude McFuzz and The Lorax, and a 10-foot tower of turtles from "Yertle the Turtle" above a reflecting pool.

The park was funded by public and private sources, including a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant and a gift from his widow, Audrey Geisel.

The celebration continues on Saturday with visitors invited to dress as their favorite Seuss characters. Audrey Geisel and Dimond-Cates will lead a parade down Mulberry Street, made famous in Geisel's first children's book, "And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street."

That book was rejected 27 times before being published by Vanguard Press in 1937, according to Geisel's biography.

After the parade, Audrey Geisel will launch a Seuss read-a-thon, featuring celebrity readers Paige Turco, star of the CBS series "The Agency;" Olympic gold medalist Tim Daggett, and Broadway star Mamie Duncan-Gibbs.

On Sunday the celebration culminates with music, clowning and bronze sculpture demonstrations at the memorial.

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(For more information see Web sites catinthehat.org, seuss.org)