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Date: May
1998
• Ace
Hardware publishes
a "Really Big Sale" newspaper supplement throughout Ohio that includes
the World's Largest Catsup Bottle. Also featured are the World's
Largest
Ball of Twine, the World's Biggest Frying Pan, big-time broadcaster John
Madden, and Marie Osmond.
•
Using money
received from
the Midwest Living Hometown Pride Award, the Catsup Bottle Preservation
Group purchases an incredible 42" x 140" photographic print of the
water
tower. The piece is presented to the Collinsville Memorial Public
Library
and hangs in the stairwell leading from the main floor to the second
floor
children's library.
Date: June
1998
• The
1949-1999 50th Anniversary
logo is created. New t-shirts and sweatshirts are produced.
Refrigerator
magnets also go on sale. Talks begin in regard to the creation of the
Official
International World's Largest Catsup Bottle Fan Club. Talk of an
official
World's Largest Catsup Bottle Web site also begins.
Date: August
20, 1998
•
Recently 96.1
KSTR
radio in Grand Junction, Colorado, learned of the Catsup Bottle and
contacted
us. Judy had a great interview with the Brad & Steven morning show.
Folks all around the country were able to listen to it via the radio
station's
Web site.
Date: August
24, 1998
•
Downtown
Collinsville,
Inc. and the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group are proud to announce the
latest exhibit at the Collin Art Gallery 317. "Rebirth of a
Landmark
- A Photographic Essay" is on display from August 24 through Saturday,
September 19, 1998. A reception was held Friday, September 18. The show
features 25 photographs by Thomas Miller and Mike Gassmann taken
before,
during, and after the World's Largest Catsup Bottle restoration project.
Date: August
29, 1998
•
Producers
for the cable
TV network Country Music Television were in town on Saturday,
August
29. They were shooting footage of the Catsup Bottle to be aired during
their year-end "Biggest and Best Music Video Awards" program. The show
will debut Thanksgiving weekend and then rerun throughout December.
Terri
Ann Blanton, coordinating producer for CMT, said, "This is our way of
celebrating
the fun and weirdness of America!" Other regional stops on their
around-the-country
adventure included the National Bowling Hall of Fame and the Elvis is
Alive
Museum. Aside from Bottle video, they also shot interviews with the
"Catsup
Bottle Lady" Judy DeMoisy and Fan Club President Mike Gassmann. It was
five hours of hard work and lots of fun wherein Judy says "The Bottle
is
our Eiffel Tower." and "I don't know anything about country
music!"
We can't wait to see the end result - hopefully it won't be too
embarrassing.
So here's to our new friends at CMT… Terri-Ann, Steven, Rebecca, Dee,
Tommy,
and Richard. Thanks for coming by!!
Date: September
6, 1998
•
After months
of planning,
months of compiling information and photos, months of writing, and lots
of graphic designing and html programming, the Official World's
Largest
Catsup Bottle Web Site goes online at www.catsupbottle.com. The
design,
text, photos, and graphics were all produced by Mike Gassmann and the
Web
site programming and consultation is done by Don Leone. The cyberworld
will never be the same again.
 Date:
September
9, 1998
• On
September
8, 1998,
he had retrieved St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire's record
breaking
62nd home run ball. On September 9th, 22 year old Collinsville resident
Tim
Forneris appeared on the David Letterman show. When asked
where
he was from, Tim answered proudly, "Collinsville, Illinois...
International
Horseradish Capital of the World - and we also have this really large
Catsup
Bottle!" The crowd went wild. Congrats to you, Tim, and thanks for the
plug on TV, and thanks for the nice note.
Date: October
1998
• Randy
Garbin, publisher
of Roadside magazine, popped by to see us. He was on a
cross-country
trip from Oregon back to Worchester, Massachusetts. He discovered us by
way of the Internet, and this little visit would lead to a wonderful,
kindred
spirit friendship.
Date: October
19, 1998
• The
Catsup
Bottle photo
exhibit has a successful showing in Boston, Massachusetts at the Ernst
and Young Center for Business Knowledge weekend conference. E & Y
business
researcher Manya Chylinski said the Catup Bottle fit their theme of
unique
tourist attractions from around the world. "It was quite the topic of
conversation,"
she said.
Date: October
25, 1998
• The
Travel
section of
the Sunday, October 25 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times
features
a fantastic article about the Catsup Bottle. Author Dave Hoekstra, a
longtime
Bottlefan, drives in from Chicago to visit and ended up writing an
incredible
piece announcing the new Web site and Fan Club.
Date: December
1998
•
Quite a few
months ago,
we got a call from Sasie Sealy with A&E Media, part of the
History
Channel in New York. They have a calendar on the Internet entitled
“This
day in Automotive History.” Carrie Knoblock, now in charge of the
project,
recently called to let us know our Catsup Bottle and the Web site were
featured last September. Check it out, the History Channel Web site is
www.historychannel.com.
• The
publisher of Two-Lane
Roads newspaper, Loren Eyrich, includes a picture of the Catsup
Bottle
in his book "No Sleeping on Pavement," a collection of wacky roadside
signs
and attractions.
•
Collinsville
and the World's
Largest Catsup Bottle is mentioned in the suspence thriller novel "And
Then You Die" by Iris Johansen.
•
Linda Herman
of Walking
Stick Press in San Francisco emailed us for a slide of the Catsup
Bottle.
She is doing research for a book entitled "Art of the State: Illinois."
Publication is scheduled for Fall of 1999.
•
Articles
with color photos
appear in the Collinsville Journal and the Belleville
News-Democrat
announcing the new 50th Anniversary logo merchandise. T-shirts,
sweatshirts,
refrigerator magnets, and coffee mugs are all now available.
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