Read about Gayle's Experience with the Special Olympics I started working on the Special Olympics 99 World Games logo about 4 years ago. I'd been working with Bill Kamp, a great art director at RB&W in Raleigh, and he asked me if I'd like to give it a go. So began a few years of working on the logo and all the event icons and program cover. One of the perks (since it was mostly pro-bono) was that they would fly me down to the games, put me up, etc. My 10 daughter Sonya is a singer, and 3 months before the games she was invited to perform during the games with a jazz band, so the Special Olympics experience started to take on a whole different twist for us! But nothing prepared me for the magnitude of the actual event! My logo was everywhere. All over the airport ( and in all the airports across the country) the highway signs, banners everywhere, on t-shirts, cups, fanny packs, buttons, hats, you name it, it was on it. McDonalds did a commemorative cup, And Coke did a can with the logo on it. I collaborated with another artist, Daniel Kelm on designing gifts for the big sponsors. These gifts were tall glass cylinders with the logo and icons sandblasted onto them, then we hand painted some of the icons. We got a few nice Articles about us before and during the games. Someone from WNPR called me down there and I was on All Things Considered! Sonya and I did a press conference where they had me talk about the logo. That was exciting! Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul & Mary ) & Chris Antly (the jockey) did the press conference with us too. Sonya got a big hand from the room full of photographers & press people, as she was introduced as an aspiring 10 year old jazz singer. What more could a mom ask for? It was a blast! Her 2 performances were very exciting & she did really well. The athletic events were amazing experiences. I got weepy every time I watched an event. Seeing the looks on the athletes faces when they finished their competition was incredible. We got to present medals for Rollerblading. That was great. Even our 5 year old son Max got to help with that. For those of you who don't know, the Special Olympics is for mentally retarded people. There were over 7000 athletes participating. The families involved are incredible, so friendly and supportive. The 35,000 volunteers were amazing. Southern hospitality at it's best. The whole feeling surrounding the event was very powerful. I was very lucky to be a part of it.

Artwork Copyright 2007 and TM Gayle Kabaker