The following are excerpts taken from the Walton Sun article about this cottage.
Take one part children’s book, add one part imagination and two parts daring and guts and what do you have? The latest Alys Beach Resorts playhouse creation for the 2008 Cottages for Kids extravaganza. Alys Beach Resorts is unique among all Cottages for Kids participants: They alone have built and donated a cottage every year since its inception in 2006.
Here is the story behind the cottage named 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, a take-off on Dr. Seuss’ 1960s children’s book. Armored with smashed, recycled soda cans, this cottage is a nautically inspired sea creature creation. Pirates and plunderers can dive into the belly of the beast, where a tire swing entertains those recently swallowed. Those lucky enough to escape the digestive dungeon can scale the great net to a second story sanctuary where they can watch for mermaids and scallywags and create the tales that true child adventurers have been creating for years.
The Alys Beach cottage is an overscaled fish made from a plywood form that is covered with crushed cans as fish scales, all built by Alys Beach employees with the help of Alys Beach Construction and Superintendent John Spears. In addition to the repurposing of aluminum cans, the cottage was completely built from materials left over from other jobs at Alys Beach. The use of recycled materials will teach kids that “most disposed materials can be used for something else and don’t have to be thrown away,” according to Alys Stephens, Alys Beach Style Director.
Stephens also noted that, “CVHN is a great local charity that we love giving to. There is big pride among the employees in our company who love to build the cottages and support CVHN. Everybody here watches the cottage unveiling and it is a great opportunity to give back to our community.”
