Roasting The Moon Pie

City Of Mobile Downtown Mobile The morning after the 9000 dollar moon pie lifted into the sky the roasters come out!

by Tiffany Craig

Published: Thu, January 01, 2009 - 6:10 pm CST Last Updated: Fri, January 02, 2009 - 12:59 pm CST

Some of you are roasting Mobile's electronic moon pie after watching it ring in 2009.

The 600 pound pie made its debut across from Cooper Riverside Park as part of a downtown celebration called "MoonPie Over Mobile."

The pie is the brainchild of City Councilman Fred Richardson. He spent 9,000 of your tax dollars to have the pie built from plywood, aluminum, and paper mache.

Michael Propst says he was disappointed. "We didn't know where it was at. You couldn't even recognize it as a moon pie so we weren't very impressed at all. You hear about a moon pie going up in the sky and you're thinking big things but it was like a Christmas ornament going up in the sky. That's all it was."

Rachel Nowlin says she saw the lights change on the towers downtown at the stroke of Midnight but the moon pie was at least a minute behind. "I did watch the moon pie rise but it was kind of far away and hard to see and it was late. I was looking at my watch so maybe I should set my watch to the Mobile Moon Pie time for the New Year. I don't know."

Regardless of the kinks in the show, we're told the park was packed. They city hopes to make "Moonpie Over Mobile" and annual event.

WKRG.com » News Stream » Alabama

Video
Photo
Map

Embed:

WKRG.com Related

News –› Alabama

News –› Mobile

Discuss this in the forum

Email to a Friend

Printer Friendly

Download Video

Bad Day Kitty Says:

Thu, Jan 08, 2009 at 3:56 pm

Yeah, and the poetry is almost good as the infamous “moon pie” drop!

I have many friends all over the country and Fred is right, the whole nation is aware of the incident. Sadly though, it is not the kind of publicity we needed.

Looks as though Freddie boy has helped Mobile come up with a nickname. Fits right in too you know, Big Apple, Big Easy, Big Moon Pie———-!

BamaBob Says:

Thu, Jan 08, 2009 at 11:54 am

Check this out! The city council is now sitting around writing poetry about the moonpie! lol

MoonPie Celebration Encourages Economic Stimulus, Poetry - January 07, 2009
http://cityofmobile.org/news.php?view=full&news=1493

jlb1198 Says:

Mon, Jan 05, 2009 at 1:47 pm

Hey! I was downtown last saturday 12/27 and I was turning off Dauphin onto Royal and a possume ran out in front of me, I almost hit it. This doesnt relate to anything but I never thought I would see a possum down town mobile and it was kind of funny

BamaBob Says:

Mon, Jan 05, 2009 at 12:56 pm

I would have gladly donated the city a possum. I’m tired of the sucker eating all the cat food!

SamRocks Says:

Mon, Jan 05, 2009 at 12:09 pm

Check these City’s drops. (A live possum in a cage)??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_objects_dropped_on_New_Year’s_Eve

BamaBob Says:

Mon, Jan 05, 2009 at 8:55 am

As I said in an earlier comment, there is a good reason that 9 out of 10 of these sort of things drop! It’s for visual impact and climactic punctuation.

If you raise a little yellow disk into the air 200 feet, its size diminishes for the spectators with each foot of distance. Eventually it just gets lost in the night sky. Kind of anticlimactic.

Atlanta’s peach for example, begins its journey at the top of a 60 foot structure and slowly lowers into the crowd of onlookers (visually becoming larger and larger). When it reaches the bottom (at midnight hopefully) it sets off fireworks and a shower of confetti.

The Mobile MoonPie looked cartoonish and a little embarrassing.

Bad Day Kitty Says:

Sun, Jan 04, 2009 at 10:46 pm

My opinion usually isn’t worth two cents, but that makes it worth about twice as much as Councilman Fred Richardson’s hare-brained idea to spend $9,000 for the construction of a plywood replica of a moon pie and the thwarted effort to have it raised 200 feet above the mobile river. Having worked in North Mobile and Midtown Mobile for some18 years, I know of numerous ways he could have better used his contingency funds. Either he doesn’t drive in his district or he drives a luxary vehicle that conceals all the pot holes in the streets and flood prone areas. If he truly knew his constituents, he would be only too aware of how many are forced to live in substandard housing and go hungry while looking for a job. This event will soon be forgoten, but I hope the bad taste will linger until the next municipal election!
Now that I have that off my chest, I feel much better. Although I know the chances of it happening are slim to none, I wish for you all a happy and prosperous New Year.

Alabama Patriot Says:

Sun, Jan 04, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Did anyone ever stop to think of why the city might be leaving all of the city streets unpaved and in poor repair? Of course fixing the streets does not make the city any money. But, they get tons of money from the taxes they rake in from the repair shops that we take our cars to. This includes any repair that you can name. Slick huh? Of course, now we know how the city is going to pay for the improvements to the moonpie for next year. They are going to increase its size somewhat (50-feet sounds about right for 200-feet in the air) and add fireworks and sparklers. When those go off, the moonpie may really show everyone what it is made of. As for me going downtown for anything, it is a waste of my time and money. And anyway, I hate crowds. I especially hate paying the cost of the gas to get to downtown for a free event and have to pay someone $25 to park my car. The city should provide free parking for all.

southfan1981 Says:

Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 8:48 pm

Bama, I think we should add a New Year’s Eve River Swim to the festivities. Best swim suit competition wins another event! Most innovative use of the moon pie in a desert or savory dish competition. Moon pie toss. The ideas keep coming!

Moon Pie Moon Pie Moon Pie!

BamaBob Says:

Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 6:50 pm

Drummond is overselling this whole moonpie event just like most politicians. If there were 12,000 people at Cooper Riverside Park, most of the left before WKRG’s web cams went on after 11:00.

I don’t think the basic concept is a bad one, but I do hope more thought is given before any permanent structures are built.