No, this has nothing to to do with Labatt Blue. But there is a correlation to beer if you bear with me.
You see, Blue is a character from a children’s book written by Lisa Pansini who has had nothing to do with Buffalo until now. Lisa lives in Florida, though she is originally from Brooklyn. She’s a writer and illustrator who happened to come up with the idea for a children’s book called Blue Goes to Buffalo. It’s the story about Blue, a stinky weird looking slice of cheese, who doesn’t fit in because he is so different than the rest of the cheese family. In order to find acceptance, Blue must travel to Buffalo (Home of the Wing), where soon he discovers that he is loved for his unusual flavor and his pairing with the chicken wing (and eggplant wings for us vegetarians).
The premise for the book came about when Lisa’s husband jokingly asked his wife to read him a bedtime story. Out of the blue Lisa came up with the story of Blue who was being bullied and laughed at for being different. The impromptu story led to his journey to Buffalo, and before she knew it Lisa was putting the finishing touches on the feel good story.
Now Lisa is embarking upon a Kickstarter campaign. A friend of hers told her about Buffalo Rising, and Lisa felt that since she had built up Buffalo as an accepting place in the story, that maybe it might translate to some interest in helping to get the book published. I told Lisa that I would post her request if she tried to make it to Buffalo for a book signing at an urban independent book store if she ever found herself traveling up north. Hey, you never know, right?
Now, about that beer correlation… if Blue goes to Buffalo to fit in, and finds acceptance with the locals, then he’s bound to learn that Labatt Blue’s US headquarters is located in Buffalo. Seeing that beer also goes great with wings and blue cheese, maybe the two forge a true Blue partnership in the sequel. I wonder if Celery gets a starring role or just a bit part!
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, we might want to start ponying up a couple of bucks to make sure that we get a copy of the book.
“I am a graphic designer with a background in fine arts. I also do voiceovers for children’s cartoons (which is pretty sweet!). I wanted to publish my own children’s book, so I came up with the story and am also illustrating it myself. The moral of the book is that you can’t judge things by their appearance, and it uses Blue Cheese and the city of Buffalo (and its kind citizens) to teach this moral. My Kickstarter campaign ends June 22nd, so anything you could do would help immensely.” – Lisa Pansini
See Kickstarter for the rest of the details and to learn about the rewards for donating to the campaign.