$107,000 of the needed $125,000 has now been raised for the statue of Ray Bradbury to be erected in his home town of Waukegan, Illinois, and the fund raising efforts are now considered to be in the final stretch. For the latest news story on those fund raising efforts, click on the link below. For links that will allow you to make a contribution, please see some of the preceding posts under this heading.
Work has begun on the Ray Bradbury statue to be placed outside the Waukegan, Illinois public library. The dedication is scheduled for August 22, 2019, which would have been Ray's 99th birthday. See you there!
Here is a link to the latest news about the statue:
Below is a link to a newspaper article about the work currently being done by sculptor Zachary Oxman on the Ray Bradbury statue at E & E Metal Fab, a firm in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The statue looks like it is coming along very well, and it's less than five months to the scheduled dedication ceremony in Waukegan, Illinois! (And, if you scroll down a bit and watch the short video that appears after the quote "It's your imagination", you can see the pieces of the unassembled figure of Ray that the statue includes spread out on a table!)
From his Facebook page, below is a link to a photo taken last March of sculptor Zachary Oxman astride his uncompleted statue of Ray Bradbury. I'm looking forward to seeing the sculpted figure of Ray where Mr. Oxman is sitting. Still awaiting the final word about the dedication ceremony in Waukegan. Hopefully, it will still take place next month, as announced earlier this year.
That is what I was told recently by the Ray Bradbury Experience Museum, that the statue will be dedicated on Ray's 99th birthday but the museum is not yet complete.
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The dedication ceremony for the Ray Bradbury statue at the Waukegan, Illinois public library will take place on August 22, 2019, as previously announced. The festivities begin at 6:30 pm, with the actual dedication ceremony taking place at 7:30 pm. Below is a link to the Library's Facebook page with the details:
Per the newspaper article below, which can be accessed by clicking on the link, demolition work has begun in front of the Waukegan Public Library in anticipation of the installation of the statue of Ray Bradbury. The dedication of the statue is scheduled for August 22, 2019, which would have been Ray's 99th birthday.
As also noted in the above article, the fund-raising effort is still $10,000 short of the $125,000 needed to pay for the cost of the statue. If anyone who has not already made a donation would still like to do so, just click on the link below:
Attached below is a link to the Waukegan Public Library's latest announcement about the upcoming dedication of the Ray Bradbury statue on August 22, 2019. The countdown is on!
The Ray Bradbury Experience Museum in Waukegan, Illinois will be holding an open house from 4 pm to 6 pm on August 22, 2019, so folks can see how the Museum (scheduled to be finished and open in 2020) is coming along. The Museum's open house has been scheduled so that visitors can afterward go over to the dedication of Waukegan's Ray Bradbury statue, scheduled to take place at 6:30 pm that same day. For more information, you can click on the link below:
Tonight, the dedication of the Ray Bradbury statue took place in Waukegan, Illinois. It was a great evening, starting with an open house at the still-in-progress Ray Bradbury Experience Museum. Then, it was off for the dedication ceremony at the Waukegan Public Library, when the attendees were first entertained by the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra, and then heard a number of speakers, including a special guest, former astronaut James Lovell of Apollo 13 fame, as well as Jonathan Eller of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies. Attached is a photo of the statue after it was unveiled. A splendid time was had by all!
It was kind of cool to receive a book from Ray's library as part of the deal. I already had a signed copy of The Cat's Pajamas, but not one with a plate in front that verifies it was actually from Ray's library!
It goes nicely between my bookends made from lumber from Ray's house in CA ...
******************************************************* He said, "You're -- You're not waiting anymore, are you, Chris?"
You can check out a video of the installation and the actual unveiling of the Ray Bradbury statue on the Facebook page of the Waukegan Public Library. Just click on the link below:
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