Walk tall and carry a big stick. (A walking stick, that is)

I thought I'd use today's blog post to feature the Grand Prize that will be raffled off to participants in this year's On Our Minds programming.

So here, without further ado, is What's In It For You:

A hand-carved cedar walking stick, generously donated by Warren Bryant, of Take a Hike Walking Sticks.

An avid outdoorsman, Warren harvests his White Cedar in the Maine woods. Each stick is hand peeled and sanded, then charmingly carved and hand-painted with whimsical deer, moose, and bears. Animal tracks and bees are other motifs often used in Warren's carvings. Smooth as silk and incredibly light - yet strong - the sticks all come with a leather wrist thong. Custom sticks can be embellished with teeth, claws, or feathers.

You can see our Grand Prize walking stick in the Mantor Library lobby - it's being featured in the Virtual Appalachian Trail display.

How can you win this wonderful piece of functional folk art? Glad you asked. You can:

- Like us on Facebook. (If you haven't already, what are you waiting for??)

- Post how many miles you have walked on our Facebook page Virtual Appalachian Trail. You can post daily, or give us weekly or monthly cumulative totals. For your initial post, and every 10 miles you log after that, your name is entered in the drawing.

- Come to one of our On Our Minds events. Notices of upcoming events are always posted in the library and around campus, as well as in regular Mantor Monday blog posts here, on our Facebook page, and on Twitter. They are also listed here.

So come on, play along; you could be the lucky winner!