Having fun promoting Celebrate the Century

Jaye Kirby, window clerk at the Camino Media Station in Bakersfield, CA, was one of hundreds of employees nationwide who jumped into the '50s spirit by dressing up in their "poodle" best.

Sarah Potter of Henderson Elementary School in St. Charles, MO, thinks voting is a pretty cool thing to do. "My mom told me 'I Love Lucy' was the best stamp for the 1950s," says the fourth grader. "But I really like 'The Cat in the Hat,' so I voted for both. I'm glad they won."

Sarah and thousands of other "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" fans participated in the first vote by the American public and postal employees of stamp subjects representing the most significant people, events and trends of the 1950s. The voting was part of a Postal Service program called Celebrate the Century™. CTC allows customers of all ages for the first time ever to place their stamp on history for the last five decades of the 20th century.

"It was exciting to see postal employees from Long Beach, CA, to Orlando, FL, spend the month of February climbing on board the CTC bandwagon," says Valoree Vargo, Stamp and Product Marketing Manager at headquarters. "They did it by getting into the spirit of the decade and encouraging customers to cast ballots for their favorite 1950s icons."

Four hundred New York baseball fans attended a "get out the vote" rally at the Staten Island Mall for local sports hero Bobby Thompson. After 47 years, the former New York Giant who hit "the shot heard 'round the world" was surprised by all of the attention. "I continue to be amazed people still talk about that home run," said Thompson.

Salisbury, NC, Postal Store employees (l to r) Janie Savage, Anne Jory, Angie Despain and Stacie Carriker celebrated the issuance of the 1900s and 1910s CTC stamps by dressing up as one of the subjects commemorated on the stamps — Gibson Girls.

At the Topeka, KS, Main Post Office, students from Chase Middle School were invited to vote during an event highlighting the desegregation of public schools. Children received a National Park Service history lesson in the original courtroom where the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision was handed down.

In Glasgow and Scottsville, KY, and Salisbury, NC, employees dressed in turn-of-the-century clothes to celebrate the issuance of the 1900s and 1910s sheets of stamps. Says Glasgow Customer Services Supervisor Susie Peay, "We're having so much fun promoting Celebrate the Century."

Citizens of Springfield, MA, went all out for favorite son Dr. Seuss. The local newspaper did its best to hype the creator of Green Eggs and Ham by inserting official ballots in 110,000 newspapers. Down the road in Brockton, MA, civic leaders encouraged the community to vote for its hometown star undefeated boxing champion Rocky Marciano.

CTC education kits receive vote of approval The '50s version of the Celebrate the Century™ education kit is an overwhelming success with teachers and students. More than 200,000 classrooms received the kits, with an average of 100 or more coming on board daily. "Teachers are absolutely delighted with the kits," says Stamp Services Program Manager Linda Houchell. "Once a teacher receives a kit in the mail, the rest of the staff simply falls in love with it. Our phones are staying quite busy trying to answer all the requests." The 1960s curriculum package is scheduled to arrive in schools the first two weeks in May.

"We know employee enthusiasm and involvement are making these promotions successful," observes Vargo, noting that more than eight million votes were cast for the '50s subjects.

While designs for the 1950s winners are being finalized, the CTC team is "twisting" into the 1960s. "Live via satellite," "Space - the final frontier," "That's one small step for a man" and "I have a dream" are legendary words from the 1960s. Which themes find their place on stamps will once again be in the hands of the American public and employees when they vote May 1- 31.

"Great Lakes employees are getting really excited about Celebrate the Century," says Area Stamp Facilitator Ken Iversen. "We plan on hosting scores of '60s events to encourage balloting and a big Roaring '20s theme party to celebrate the issuance of the 1920s sheet of stamps."

Employees in other offices are preparing for the '60s voting by planning "Sock it to me" days, Mustang promotions with Ford dealerships, "Trekkie" celebrations, and a healthy dose of twisting and shouting to the music of the Beatles and Motown. In every part of the country, post offices are forming partnerships with grocery stores, shopping malls, theaters and toy stores to get additional ballots in the hands of the voters.

CTC stamp subjects are quickly becoming everyday topics of conversation around the country. Not a day goes by without a radio talk show host or newspaper columnist bringing up the subject of Celebrate the Century. Jane Glenn Haas of the New York Daily News pleaded for readers to vote for Gene Kelly and "Singin' in the Rain."

Michael Skube of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote: "The Postal Service is in the hands of the populists these days, and what people want, they get." And Charles Osgood of CBS Radio focused on CTC by encouraging listeners to use the Chicago method of balloting: "Vote early and vote often."

Celebrate the Century continues in May with voting for the 1960s stamp subjects and the issuance of the 1920s commemorative sheet. Employees who mail in their special Postal Life ballot will receive a free lapel pin for the 1960s. As "Star Trek's" Mr. Spock would say: "Vote. It's the logical thing to do."

Dave Failor is a communication programs specialist in the Midwest Area and the CTC public relations and communications coordinator.