Dr. Mark L Troyer was a mild mannered chiropractor from Washington DC. He adjusted peoples spines, lived in a quiet neiborhood, and loved his grandchildren, And there was something else he loved. Ever since he was a boy he’d just been fascinated with beavers. Their tails. Their teeth. Their lodges. He started collecting on a whim, just out of curiosity. And then the collection got bigger and friends started to add to it. And then it was so big it needed a wall. And then the wall was so full it needed a room.
Eventually Dr. Troyer retired and enjoyed having more time to read for pleasure. One day a friend pointed him to Ben Goldfarb’s book and he was surprised to find there were lots of reasons for everyone to care about beavers. He knew it was time for the collection to go someplace where it could be appreciated and help delight and educate more people. He donated it to that non profit in the book “Worth A Dam” just in time for the beaver festival that never happened in 2020. And then it was 2021 and time for another beaver festival happened in 2021. And then it was 2022.
And so the idea of great beaver GIVEAWAY was born.
To be perfectly honest it is true that I have always been especially enamored of children’s voices and I really wanted to hear children tell California why it needed beavers, especially since it was the children of Martinez who finally persuaded the mayor. And then Amelia did such fantastic art work for the California Beaver Summit and the governor appeared to be listening. And our NASA audio sound guy said he could record the children and strip out unwanted audio so that I can use the voices for films and Virginia said her sister worked as a fairy at fairy land and for children’s parties and would love to help AND the pediatrician scout mom said her boys loved the festival and wanted to participate this year, well it all seemed to come together when Jon put together this great display shelf for the stage.
The idea will be that children step up to a mic and say how beavers can help California like by saving water or slowing fires or making more birds etc and then the a boyscout will help the child get the collected beaver of their choice to keep. Cheryl will be standing by to take a picture. Parents will beam and ooh appreciatively. And then the NEXT child will do the same thing.
And will keep it up until there are no more children of no more beavers and everyone there has heard over and over WHY BEAVERS MATTER.
I am partial to the mountie myself. Which will your child choose?
