Manheim Central townlively.com
OCTOBER 23, 2024
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LXV • NO 39
Manheim illustrator’s Light the Night will offer fun for everyone work featured in Amazon holiday catalog BY CATHY MOLITORIS
When Teen Central hosts its annual Light the Night event, the organization welcomes hundreds of people to enjoy food, fellowship and fun. This year’s festivities will be held on Thursday, Oct. 31, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the parking lot of Teen Central,
BY CATHY MOLITORIS
L
aura Moyer may be an artist, but she’s also a storyteller, and now her work is in mailboxes across the country. Laura, who lives in Manheim, created the artwork that appears on the cover and throughout the Amazon Kids Gift Book, a national catalog mailed to customers earlier this month.
15 S. Wolf St., Manheim. “The event takes place during Manheim’s trick-or-treat hours, and the last few years we have had between 400 to 500 people pass through our parking lot,” said Janelle Heying, Teen Central executive director. “We would love to welcome everyone to this free community event. Whether See Light the Night pg 3
“I love being an illustrator when it makes others feel happy or if it helps people learn (and) makes learning fun.” As Laura explained, the artwork was created specifically for the Amazon book, but it followed some preset guidelines. “I worked collaboratively with a large team of people to create the characters - appearance, personality traits,” she said. “The set of characters has been used for the toy book every year for four or five years, and each year, they have a new illustrator create the characters in their style. So we were building on existing characters, but creating them in my own visual style on their newest story/adventure.” The characters, which include forest friends such as a fox, a bear and an owl, appear throughout the book in a story and activities such as coloring pages, hide-and-seek
Laura Moyer
games and word searches. An “about the illustrator” profile of Laura appears on the last page of the 50-page toy catalog. Laura was selected for the project last fall after her agency, Closer&Closer, secured her the work. She began working on the illustrations in January. “It was a collaborative project between myself, a design studio called Hybrid Design based in San Francisco and the Amazon toy book team,” Laura said. She worked on the project from January until July. L aura grew up in Cedar Run, N.J., and graduated from Philadelphia University (now Thomas Jefferson University) with a degree in graphic design
communication in 2013. She was employed full time as a graphic designer in Harrisburg and then Lancaster, where she worked on a few illustration projects and hoped to pursue that type of work full time. After her second child was born in 2017, Laura began freelance graphic design work and took online illustration classes. “I really just made an Instagram page for my illustration work and would share whatever I was working on in my classes or for fun, and it took off from there,” she explained. Laura said the two children she shares with her husband, Jarryd Bryce, age 9, and Lyla, age 7 - have enjoyed following the characters’
Grant provides canoes and more BY CATHY MOLITORIS
Dr. David Eichler loves being out on the water. He also loves sharing his knowledge of boating with students of all ages. Now the member of Glossbrenner Church in Mount Joy can do both those things more often. Thanks to Eichler’s efforts, the church was awarded a Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission (PFBC) R3 grant in July. “R3” stands for recruitment, retention and reactivation. The grant awarded the church funds to
purchase seven canoes, a trailer, paddles and personal flotation devices (PFDs). Eichler taught health, physical and outdoor education at Donegal High School for 35 years. He used canoes provided through PFBC grants and fundraising initiatives to teach and certify students in boat safety. When he retired in January of 2020, he hoped to keep instructing people, but he needed canoes and equipment to do so. When the school district held a public drawing for the canoes, kayaks
See Illustrator pg 8
See Canoes pg 2
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People enjoy a previous year’s Light the Night.
• Pansies • Mums • Cabbages & Kales (Rts. 741 & 324S) • Corn Shocks & Lots More! 3 Miles S. of Lancaster Follow us on Mon.-Sat. 8-6, Closed Sunday • 717-872-9311 R111955 400 Long Lane At Marticville Road