What to Know
- 2022 Imagine! Charity Fundraiser
- Saturday, Oct. 8 at Garner Holt Productions in Redlands
- Disney voice actors will join the evening, which will raise funds for the Garner Holt Foundation; the foundation offers young people a host of amazing learning opportunities
When we talk about the wizardry of theme parks, we're often talking about animatronics, that super-cool STEM-tastic world of turning cogs and computers into almost-living people, animals, and straight-from-a-storybook characters.
And so much of that wizardry has found its first fantastical footing at Garner Holt Productions in Redlands, where a special fundraiser, one featuring several Disney voice actors, is magically materializing on Saturday, Oct. 8.
The give-back evening's good-hearted goal?
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The 2022 Imagine! Charity Fundraiser will raise money for a foundation that helps young people learn about animatronics and STEM-based careers, all while giving people a peek inside the famous factory.
It's a factory that might be thought of as a dazzling Willy Wonka-like destination, but instead of making gooey confections?
The Redlands-based workshop brims with whimsical inventions, and imagination-fueled machinery, and the bells-whistles-and-everything-elses that give theme park attractions so much of their magical moxie.
Garner Holt has been at the helm of this fantasy-creating company for 45 years, and the dreamer's animatronically awesome vision has flowered at Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, world-famous resorts, major museums, and, oh yeah, Chuck E. Cheese, too.
But Mr. Holt has an even greater vision beyond fashioning fantasy for today: He has long looked to the future and the envelope-pushing, think-bigger inventors of tomorrow.
To help introduce young people to the world of animatronics, there is the Garner Holt Foundation, an organization that "creates immersive learning opportunities for underserved youth throughout the community."
Those opportunities help illuminate "... careers in engineering, robotics, automation, programming, manufacturing, and the visual and performing arts, while simultaneously building in-demand job skills and the self-confidence needed to pursue their own paths to success in the careers of their dreams."
Participating in the Oct. 8 event, which will support those future-forward efforts? It's truly a "who's who" of modern Disney greats, with iconic animator Floyd Norman and Bill Farmer (the vibrant voice of Goofy, of course) on the starry line-up.
Tickets are on sale for the 2022 Imagine! Charity Fundraiser now. General admission to the evening, which will include auctions, panels, and lots more, is $175.
