As usual there were many seminars and meetings at the annual Natioonal Cartoonists Society Reuben Weekend. Here’s a sketch of the back of of cartoonings greatest enthusiasts and such a kind man, Bill Wilson, at one of those meetings.

That night was the annual Reuben Awards.

Here is the big winner: Al Jaffee of Mad Magazine won the ‘Cartoonist of the Year’ award. He has been creating art for the mag for nearly fifty years. His fold-ins are as great as ever.With his was the Master of Ceremonies: Mike Peters of ‘Mother Goose and Grimm’.

The next big winner was cartoonist Sandra Boynton with receiving the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award.

Two other big winners: Cartoonists attorney, Stu Rees, who received the Silver T-Square Award for volunteerism. With Stu is best Advertising Illustration award winner Tom Richmond.

Here is New Yorker gag cartoonist and author, Mort Gerberg with his award for best Gag Cartoon. He was also part of our Habitat for Humanity crew. I can only hope that I will have as much energy next year as Gerberg does now.

Bill Schorr won for best Editorial Cartoonist.

After the awards it became a room full of crazies in tuxedos. Here’s cartoonist and scientific illustrator, John Norton.

Cartoonist and great influence on me with his ‘101 Pickle Jokes’ many years ago, Don Orehek wears his chapeau.

Finally we find cartoonist John Kovalesky declaring himself the Best Dressed Dude of the evening.

We were at the annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Weekend in New Orleans. This was the best meeting since I joined in ’95. Great food, fun and fellowship!

The group first tackled Habitat for Humanity projects. Two busloads of cartoonists were sent off from Downtown New Orleans and out to the devastated areas of Southern Louisiana. Here are photos:

We were given instructions by a Habitat for Humanaity employee (The fellow in the yellow).

Next we worked! We were split up in separate groups. I felt like a real slacker when working with the group I was with . Here are two of the three hardest workers: Up on the ladder is Leigh Hanlon, with Tribune Media Services, and cartoonist Sandra Boynton.

Of course, there was some cartooning! Here a spare piece of chipboard is drawn upon by Mad Magazine’s Sam Viviano….

… and Sandra Boynton.

Here’s the finished board. Hard to see, I know. My drawing is of a fellow on a ladder to the left of the board.

Here is the house after we worked on it. A good deal of the siding you see was put on by the crew. There was also a bunch of roofing completed also.

We went to many a restaurant. Above is our waiter at a small and very good dinner spot, the Orleans Cafe. There we ate with John Read of ‘Stay Tooned’ magazine. That’s John below. Spooky, ain’t he?

Our trip to New Orleans for the annual event was a great one. This event was the best of all I’ve been to since 1995. We’re only back for a few days and then gone again for Sandra’s travel writers convention in Arkansas. In between we’ve both come down with a virus and I’m working like a mad man to finish a project by Friday in between blowing my nose and taking medicine.

Next week I’ll post art and lots of photos from the NCS event. Here’s a sketch from dinner at Orleans Cafe with artists John Norton and Tom Stemmle and his wife Marie.

Heading home we came across one of three new restaurants from the Chik-Fil-A folks. It’s terrific! I love these kind of restaurants and this one is first class! It’s named after the founder Truett Cathy. Truett’s Grill truly does it’s best to reflect a ’50s diner. The restaurant includes displays of the history of the Chik-Fil-A chain. There’s also an HO train that runs along a track near the ceiling along the inside of the restaurant. A separate room is made up to look like the interior of a subway car, with the entrance to the room painted as an entrance to a subway car. It was quite a place with great food and – Milkshakes!

The drawing is of a time capsule that hangs on the wall of the restaurant that was sealed in 2006 and to be opened 2026. I was hoping to color and better distinguish the art but time and the number of drawings during the trip holds me back.

Our last food stop was outside Valdosta, Georgia. We stopped at Old South Bar-B-Q. It’s a family owned and operated restaurant just off U.S.75. Very good bar-b-q.

We began our way home to Florida from Columbus. Along the way we made many stops. I wanted a White Castle “burger” to remind me how much better Krystals are. Then we came across a ‘Tim Horton’s’. I had never been there but have read in the Wall Street Journal of their battle with Krispy Kreme. We got doughnuts there. Aplanned stop was made in Lexington, Kentucky, to a ‘Sir Pizza’. There we got a whole sausage pizza. After that, we stopped at the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in Kentucky. It’s also a museum of the restaurant. We got chicken there. The drive home had become a real roadfood trip!

As we drove through Tennessee we stopped in Louden to nab some ice cream from the Tic Toc Ice Cream Shop that was started by cousins of Sandra. Below is a drawing of their wall menu.

After a great reception and exhibit of Milt Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon art at the Cartoon Research Center at Ohio State University Sandra and I met with a number of Ohio based cartoonists at a Spaghetti Factory. We did a small jam, passing a page around and all adding to it. Even Sandra. The results are below. The art is by Polly Keener, Earl Musick, Don Chambers, Sandra and me.

The Festival of Cartoon Art at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The festival began with a pre-session today. Most were academic speeches about the art of sequential storytelling. The wrap-up was by the great, scholarly R.C. Harvey. Harvey spoke of cartoonist Milton Caniff, who is being honored during the entire festival Harvey has a brand new 900+ page book on the life of Caniff. I picked one up and look forward to reading it. The drawing is of R.C. addressing the crowd.

Later we visited the Thurber House, where humorist James Thurber once lived, and got to view art by the Great Lakes Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.

On our way to Columbus, Ohio, we stopped at Mammoth Cave National Park and stayed overnight in their hotel. We toured one cave for a couple hours. The drawings were drawn in the depths of the cave with very little light, so forgive the quality.

Well our intent was to see Rock City. A continuous rainstorm washed those plans out. This is a drawing I did from the gift shop.

We’re on our way to The Festival of Cartoon Art in Columbus, Ohio! Whenever we get the chance to stop in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So our first overnight stop was there. Tuesday morning we roamed through the Downtown and stopped at a great coffee shop. The drawing is an interior drawing of the shop.