Kiss the Horse Fundraiser

 “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” 

— Victor Hugo

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a local fundraiser; the Kiss the Horse for Literacy event was held at Hennessey Arabian farms, and was the biggest and most successful horse kissing fundraiser yet. 

Mojo's catered the event for the second year in a row, and I spoke briefly with one of their staffers who told me this year's event was easily three times the size of the last. "Last year, there were about 40 people here," she told me. "This year, I just hope we have enough food!" Last year's low attendance is probably due to poor timing and planning. It was held during the week, as an after-5 event; and as the general population of Ocala is either at Bingo night or preparing children for bed at such an hour, it's no wonder the turnout wasn't fantastic.


Saturday, however, proved to be a much greater success than its predecessor. The event ran from 11 to 3, and raised a hefty helping for the Literacy Council. 

The Literacy Council had a few tables set up to offer entertainment (and moderate supervision) for parents' little ones. The purpose of the Kiss the Horse event was to raise funds to promote and enhance literacy, especially among young children; a great cause, considering the shocking amount of children, and even adults, in Marion county who are illiterate (and unable to read this blog!). Learn more about the Marion County Literacy Council, and how you can help here.

But the kids enjoyed a reading station that featured lots of activities to keep the tots entertained, while parents perused the vendors' stable booths.  I honestly feared the kids would pee their pants when the horse-to-be-kissed was paraded over to the reading station for a visit. I'm not going to lie, I engaged in a little nose-petting myself. It's easy to forget the wonder and excitement you feel as a child, when you're presented with something so grand as an award-winning horse. Really, it's still intimidating as an adult.

Each of the events' merchants had their own confine within the cleaned out horse stable, where they displayed hand-crafted jewelry, quilts, candles, and a whole slew of Ocala country-favorites. Many of the featured vendors regularly set up booths at Ocala's Downtown Marketplace on Saturday mornings, so if you missed out this weekend, never fear.

Vendors set up inside this stable. No room at the inn!

My personal favorite of the day was Repurposedme Silverware Art - a crafty setup, taking commonplace silverware and turning it into literal works of art, that are both functional and fashionable. I'll have a seperate piece detailing Jody's work later this week, but if you haven't seen him downtown yet, make it a point to look for him and his wife Elaine when they're on the square next Saturday. It's really phenomenal. 




Stay tuned for the Repurposedme feature - it's gonna be good!
















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