FOR THE LOVE OF LUCY
CAMP SNOOPY -- MALL OF AMERICA
OCTOBER 8TH-13TH 2002
For the Love of Lucy was a week long celebration of Charles Schulz's beloved
creation Lucy Van Pelt that took place at Camp Snoopy and the Mall of America in
Bloomington, Minnesota. Special events were held throughout the week,
leading up to the much anticipated Looking For Lucy live auction, where over 50
Lucy statues from St. Paul's 2002 tribute to Charles Schulz would be auctioned
off.
Special events were held daily during the event. The Mall of America Rotunda was transformed into Lucy's back yard with astro turf substituting for real grass. Large backdrops with Charles Schulz's drawings of familiar Peanuts backyard images stood on either side of a stage with two giant video screens that played "Peanuts" videos all week long. Lucy's Backyard played host to a daily Character Breakfast where families could have cereal and milk with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and Sally. Twice a day, all the Peanuts characters appeared on stage to perform a special "For the Love of Lucy" live musical show. Underwater Adventures, the huge aquarium in the basement of the Mall of America, also provided an Arts and Crabs program daily in Lucy's Backyard to the delight of kids and adults.
The main information booth (which looked suspiciously like Lucy's psychiatric
booth) was located at Lucy's Backyard as well. Visitors to the event
wanted to stop by the information booth first so they could pick up a "For
the Love of Lucy" map that indicated where all 55 of the Looking For Lucy
statues and all of the special exhibits were around the first floor of the Mall
of America. If guests went around and visited all the exhibits at Lucy's
Backyard, Macy's Court, Nordstrom's Court, Sears Court and the West Market they
could get a penny stamp (1¢) at each station. If they got all five penny
stamps (5¢), the completed map could be turned in at the information booth for
a chance to win great prizes including a PEANUTS Monopoly game. Every
guest that entered also got a special Lucy fortune cookie. These cookies
had special fortunes. They were all quotes from Lucy from the Peanuts
comic strip. "Never take any advice that you can understand, it can't
possibly be good!" and "Sulking is spoiled when you can't get
comfortable" were two examples of Lucy's advice that were handed
out.
The theme for the Sears Court was "Fun and Games." A variety of games were set up for everyone to play there including checkers, PEANUTS Monopoly, and even Peanuts computer games. Tuesday through Saturday instructors from the Dick Blick Art School were available to help kids learn how to draw the characters from the Peanuts comic strip. Comic strips of Lucy playing games and having fun were reproduced throughout the court.
"Celebrate Women in Athletics" was the theme in the Nordstrom Court. There were several interactive games for kids and adults to play including pop-a-shot basketball and putt-putt golf. Pom-poms and information about the University of Minnesota women's athletic programs were available too. Occasionally some of the women on the University teams would show up to talk to guests about women's sports. Comic strips of Lucy participating in sports were reproduced all around the activities.
"Breast Cancer Awareness" was the theme in the Macy's Court. Every day, real nurses and representatives from the Sage Women's Clinic and the Susan G. Komen Foundation were on hand to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness Month and provide information to guests. There was also a station here to drop off Yoplait Yogurt lids so that Yoplait would make a 10 cent donation for each lid to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.
The West Market, just outside the west entrance of Camp Snoopy was home to two merchandise carts that featured exclusive "Looking for Lucy," "Charlie Brown Around Town," and "Peanuts On Parade" merchandise including posters, videos, t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, key chains, and other souvenirs. Especially popular were the miniature figurines of some of the "Charlie Brown Around Town" and "Peanuts On Parade" Snoopy statues from the years before. During the week the much anticipated book entitled "Looking For Lucy: St. Paul's Tribute to Charles M. Schulz" was available for purchase. The 34 page book featured color photos of all the 109 Lucy statues that were on display in St. Paul during the summer of 2002. Also, every day from 3-5pm, families could come to the West Market to paint their own miniature Lucy statue. Guests could purchase a 5 inch statue of Lucy that was all white. Then program leaders would assist folks in painting their very own Looking For Lucy statue.
Special events took place during the weekend. In the Sears Court on Friday and Saturday, Glamour Shots and FAO Schwarz sponsored a very popular program that offered to transform your little girl into a princess or a queen (just like Lucy). There weren't real psychologists giving advice during the event, but there were real psychics! On Friday and Saturday in Lucy's Backyard, guests could get a free visit with a psychic and get their fortune told. On Saturday, inside Camp Snoopy at The Snoopy Shop, select artists from the "Peanuts On Parade" and "Charlie Brown Around Town" tributes were on hand to sign the miniature versions of the statues they created for guests.
The culmination of the week long event arrived on Sunday, October 13th, 2002
with the live auction of the "Looking For Lucy" statues. All 56
statues that were going to be auctioned were at the Mall of America all week to
be viewed by the public for the last time. VIP guests and auction bidders
assembled early at the Stampede Steakhouse in Camp Snoopy for pre-registration
and a VIP reception before the auction. By 3:00pm bidders were taking
their seats in the Mall of America rotunda as Tonic Sol-Fa, the hottest a
cappella group to come out of the Midwest began to sing. Lucy,
Charlie
Brown, Snoopy, Linus and Sally soon joined the group on stage to dance.
Following the singing, comedic celebrity and Minnesotan Louie Anderson addressed
the crowd followed by one of the daughters of Charles Schulz, Sharon Johnson to
express the thoughts of the Schulz family at this continuing tribute.
Then the auction began! The auction was held by Sotheby's and was led
by celebrity auctioneer C. Hugh Hildesley, who was the same auctioneer for both
the "Peanuts On Parade" and "Charlie Brown Around Town"
auctions in previous years. Once again, the auctioneer was very
professional and highly entertaining as 56 Lucy statues were auctioned off to
the highest bidder. The first statue auctioned off was "Follow Your
Dreams Lucy" which went for $4,000. The highest bid came in at
$19,000 for Peggy Fleming's "Olympic Charmer." The lowest bid
was $2,000 for three different statues, "Find Your Heart in St. Paul,"
"Leasing Agent Lucy," and "Hero In Training." The
final statue auctioned was "Classic Lucy" which was painted by Brian
S. Johnson, grandson of Charles M. Schulz. For a complete list of the
auction results, click
here.
Following the auction there was a reception for the VIP's and auction bidders
back in the Stampede Steakhouse inside Camp Snoopy. The week long
celebration ended at 7pm that night and even before it was officially over the
55 Lucy statues at the Mall of America were already being moved out to be
shipped to their new owners. The event was successful on many levels.
Many people were responsible for that success including 25 volunteers from
Peanuts collector and fan clubs from 8 different states across America. Most
importantly, thousands of visitors had a fun time at the Mall of America
celebrating the beloved creation of Minnesota native Charles M. Schulz.
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All images of Snoopy and Peanuts characters on this web site are images of items
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