We are exactly two weeks away from Carl Sagan Day. As the time approaches, plans are in motion here in Springfield for our celebration. As I've mentioned before, we're getting closer to November 5th, which is Guy Fawkes Night. Since this will be the 5th Annual Springfield Illinois Guy Fawkes Night Celebration, I wanted to do something special. Seeing that November 9th is a Saturday, and also the one year anniversary of the Carl Sagan Google Doodle Campaign, I decided to do a hybrid celebration of both events on Carl Sagan Day. The larger celebration will be November 9th. That's when we will burn the effigy. Now, this does break tradition a bit, given that we won't be burning the effigy on the 5th, but fear not, for we will set something on fire that night: mini-effigies made of popsicle sticks, which is a nod to the very first effigy we burned during the first annual Springfield Guy Fawkes Night celebration.
We will make our little effigies, and then we will burn them. Seems good to me.
Since we are breaking one tradition (or, rather, moving it to a different date), November 5th this year will be "Phase One", celebrating with some of the other traditions of Guy Fawkes Night. My favorite of these? Toffee Apples.
We've done apples every year for GFN, but we've just done caramel apples. Don't get me wrong: I love caramel apples. But the tradition calls for toffee apples, so this year, because it's a special year, we're going to do it right.
The "Phase Two" celebration will be held on Carl Sagan Day. But I have a plan for November 6-8 as well. What are those plans, you ask? You'll just have to wait and see.
