HUDSON — The Adventures of Nate and Wendy, a new series of comedic videos designed to publicize Pasco parks, libraries and special events, all started with a hint of an idea. Or, more specifically, an acorn.
Alex Fasano, Pasco County Parks and Recreation supervisor, was looking to create a new way to bring more people to Pasco parks.
"I wanted to create a character that would identify the department and showcase parks in a marketing campaign," he said. "I thought of an acorn — that people would associate with nature."
In October of last year, Nate the acorn was born, first as a doll created by the West Pasco Quilters' Guild, then as a logo designed by Pasco artist Jason McHenry and finally as a puppet designed by Fuzzhead Puppets. Funds for the creation of the Nate puppet were drawn from Pasco County Parks and Recreation donation accounts. And even as Nate starred in his own music video Another One Likes the Nut and emerged as the official logo of Pasco Parks and Rec, Fasano sought to widen his appeal. So he introduced the puppet to Wendy Rutherford, youth librarian at Hudson Regional Library.
"We've always believed that all Pasco government departments should work together to get the public excited about what Pasco has to offer," she said. "And we wanted to do it in a way that was silly and fun — changing people's views of parks and libraries."
Fasano and Rutherford collaborated on a short video that brought Nate into Hudson Regional Library, where Rutherford told him about library cards and borrowing books, DVDs, video games and CDs. The video "Free for All," debuted on the Pasco 360 TV program and has generated more than 400 views on YouTube.
"Alex and I wrote the script and the story for the video. We have a similar sense of humor," Rutherford said. "Plus I did a lot of acting in high school and college. Now I get to act at library storytimes and in these videos."
Fasano voices Nate and Britt Dichraff, public services librarian at Hudson Regional Library, plays the straight man to Rutherford and Nate.
"It's a lot of fun to appear in these videos," Dichraff said. "I think the videos will show everybody that the library is a nice, great place to be."
Rutherford agrees.
"Sometimes when kids come in for storytime they ask, 'Where's Nate?'" she said.
Since their introduction, Rutherford and Nate also have appeared in a video to promote Saturday's Pasco County Coastal Cleanup event.
"The cleanup video has been shared and seen about 5,500 times," Fasano said.
In the future, Fasano and Rutherford hope to put the Nate and Wendy concept to work for other Pasco departments and events.
"We hoped to make this work, and now it's taken off," Fasano said. "Now we want to run with it."
Sue Knowlton, branch manager at Hudson, said the team is off to a stellar start.
"This is a wonderful collaboration of the parks and the libraries, two things that go hand in hand," she said. "They both improve the quality of life in Pasco County."