provided to Santiva Chronicle
Hortoons creator Dave Horton reveals the 11thannual 10K Race 4 FISH logo depicting his lovable animal characters including a tortoise and hare, representing the famous Aesop’s Fable of a race between unequal partners. He has created the past nine race logos–all marked with his wit.
Horton has been crafting amusing cartoon drawings for newsprint since he was in high school, starting with his school newspaper and eventually landing a deal with Hallmark when he was just a teenager. He submitted a few ideas to the company and, to his surprise, one was chosen to be incorporated in a Charles Schultz greeting card.
“I had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Schultz and he signed my original card, which amazed my peers because it was rumored he didn’t often sign things,” said Horton. “I guess she realized how important it was to me.”
A native of Illinois, Horton studied visual arts at Illinois State University, where he worked on the design of the newspaper and created a weekly cartoon strip called “Fubarfun,” a humorous take on college experiences by two roommates. It won best cartoon strip for Illinois colleges. “That was a big deal to me back then,” said Horton.
He also published the popular “Welcome to Florida” book that is filled with brilliant, zany and irreverent cartoons about Southwest Florida and inadvertently created the popular ‘WTF’ bumper sticker. Horton operates Sanibel Graphics in Fort Myers and started Nature Brackets Design Gallery offering support brackets for mailboxes, porches and shelves.
“Dave is a multi-talented artist and we are grateful to have him design our race logo each year,” said Race Committee Co-chair Diane Cortese. “His artistic talent and sense of humor are undeniable. ”The Hortoon 10K logo will appear on the front of dri-fit t-shirts worn by runners, on race posters and make an appearance in qualifying sponsor announcements.
The race will be at7:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, with the start and finish line at the historic Sanibel Community House, 2173 Periwinkle Way. This year’s race will feature a kid’s run for those 10 years and younger at the Sanibel Community Park. It’s free of charge, but registration is required.
Registration is open at ftmyerstrackclub.com or print an entry form at fishofsancap.org. Cost is $40 for those who register before Oct. 20, $45 from Oct. 21-25 and $50 on race day.
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