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Events to Mark Ben Franklin's 300th Birthday

Posted on: Monday, 16 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By Brian Mccoy, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Jan. 16--"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead," Benjamin Franklin once said, "either write things worth reading or do things worth writing."

Franklin certainly lived by that credo in his 84 years. One of the most famous men in the world in the 18th century, his legacy as a patriot, statesman, printer, scientist and inventor endures.

His contributions are being remembered this week on the 300th anniversary of his birth, which is Tuesday. Central Valley events range from a concert and art exhibit to a specially brewed beer.

Beer? Of course. It was Franklin who noted most famously that "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper."

That connection led the Philadelphia-based Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary organization to contact the Brewers Association about creating a special beer to mark Franklin's 300th birthday. The recipe, dubbed Poor Richard's Ale, was distributed to more than 100 microbreweries across the country and will be served starting Tuesday. Northern California locations include Sacramento's Brew-It-Up and San Francisco's Magnolia Pub and Brewery and 21st Amendment Brewery.

"We thought it might be a lighthearted way to celebrate one of the many ways that Franklin continues to be part of our lives and relevant today," said Nicola Twilley, director of public programming for the tercentenary. "Many of his best ideas were ... dreamed up over a beer with his friends in taverns."

The promotion is particularly fitting given Franklin's experience as a small-businessman, said Ray Daniels, director of craft beer marketing for the Colorado-based Brewers Association. "If you look at the nearly 1,400 brewers across the United States, that's what they are," he said.

Franklin's interests in music and inventing came together in his development of the glass armonica, an instrument comprising a series of glass bowls mounted on a horizontal rod. William Zeitler, the country's only full-time armonica player, will perform at Franklin commemorations in Sacramento and Modesto.

The latter concert is presented in conjunction with a Modesto Art Museum exhibit of mail art. It features more than 300 pieces of mail art - that is, artwork that has been sent through the mail - along with a collection of vintage coins. There's even an 1847 stamp bearing Franklin's likeness.

"It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing," museum director Bob Barzan said.

Contact Record Entertainment Editor Brian McCoy at (209) 546-8293 or bmccoy@recordnet.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

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Source: The Record

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