Events
What's coming up
October, and a look ahead
Monday, October 19
The October meeting - and an election
Third Monday, 6:45 in the evening at the Mount Horeb Public Library. Two more students to honor, and a bit of club business: this is the month we elect our officers for the year ahead. Guests are welcome, as always.
Saturday, October 24
Road Rally
Four to a car and a series of clues. Every team visits the same stops, each in a different order, and the final clue leads everyone to one place - a party. We start at 5 in the evening. It's a night out for Optimists, spouses, and friends. And if you've ever wondered what this club is like, this is an easy way to find out. Come ride along. Write to hello@mounthoreboptimist.com and we'll find you a seat in a car.
Wednesday, November 4
The Optimists at Good Morning, Mount Horeb
On the first Wednesday of every month, the Mount Horeb Area Chamber of Commerce and the Village of Mount Horeb put on Good Morning, Mount Horeb, an hour for neighbors and local businesses to catch up on what's happening around town. Each month a local nonprofit gets the floor. In November, it's us. We'll tell the club's story. 8 to 9 in the morning at Martinson Hall. Free, and open to everyone. Come hear it, and say hello after.
Coming Super Bowl Sunday
The Silent Auction
On the morning of Super Bowl Sunday, our friends at the Mount Horeb Rotary Club put on their Super Brunch. Last year's chalkboard read: scrambled eggs, pancakes, ham, cinnamon rolls. It's their event, and it's a good one. We just happen to take over the tables beside it.
Those tables are the Optimist Club Silent Auction, our biggest fundraiser of the year. Last year there were hundreds of items and services to bid on. You walk the rows with a plate of pancakes in you, find the one thing you can't leave without, write down your bid, and spend the rest of the morning circling back to make sure nobody topped it.
Here's why it matters. What's raised that morning goes to the youth of Mount Horeb and Blue Mounds. It's a big part of how the club pays for the things you read about here the rest of the year.
We'll start showing off what's on the tables as things come in. For now, keep Super Bowl Sunday morning open. Kickoff isn't until later anyway.
Coming in February
Twice Upon a Time
Every winter, a Storybook Theatre tour team rolls into Mount Horeb loaded with a set, costumes, props, and two professional actor-directors. They hold an open audition, cast local kids, and rehearse all week. By the end of that week, the youth of Mount Horeb are on stage in front of their neighbors. The Optimist Club brings it to town. Last February it was The Little Mermaid.
This February it's something new: Twice Upon a Time, Storybook Theatre's first-ever original production. Here's the trouble. Rip Van Winkle had one job, guarding The Storybook, and he slept through it. Now the book is gone and somebody has been rewriting the endings. Captain Hook has traded the high seas for crocheting. Jack and Jill are too scared to go up the hill. Sleeping Beauty can't sleep.
So Rip sets out with the Seven Dwarfs to put things right, and the road runs through every fairytale you know. Mother Goose and the residents of the Shoe Inn. The Evil Queen and her band of Bad Apples. Captain Hook and the Pirates of Neverland. The Fairy Godmother and the young royals of Pixie Dust's School for Girls and Boys. That is a lot of characters, and a lot of them will be Mount Horeb kids.
Dates, times, and how to audition are still to come. Circle February.