Last night at the SoCo Chuck Jones Film Festival, held at South Coast Collection in Costa Mesa, California, cartoon fans from near and far (from one end of Orange County to the other) turned out in full force with their lawn chairs, blankets, gourmet food truck munchies and were ready to sit back and laugh, laugh, laugh. 

Craig Kausen (below), Chuck Jones's grandson and chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, welcomed the assembled aficianados and quickly turned it over to the amazing audio visual wizards, who braved the frigid waters of the fountain to set up the projector.  It was an awesome evening,filled with good cheer and much camaraderie and a lot of hardy, heartfelt laughter; a perfect way to end the week and begin this amazing weekend. 

Tonight is "Bugs Bunny at the Symphony" created and conducted by the incredibly talented and amazing human being, George Daugherty–we baby-sat his magnificent Willy last night–Willy is a golden retriever and loves everyone!–at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, gates open at 6PM.  I know there are seats still available, do something spontaneous and come on down!  Plus tomorrow is the Chuck Jones Big Draw from 11 AM to 5 PM at South Coast Collection, 3309-E Hyland Avenue (next to the Paul Mitchell school), Costa Mesa, California.  Admittance is FREE between 1 and 2 PM as we prepare to set a world record for the largest art class held in one venue.  Plan on it and unleash your creative genius!  The world will be a better place for it.

Craig Kausen welcomes guests before the festival began last night at SoCo.

The intrepid AV technicians did an awesome job with the projection and sound–it was fantastic!

A good time was had by all–well, maybe the bull in Jones's "Bully for Bugs" a little less so than the rest of us, but still a fabulous night!

Photos courtesy Stephen Russo.