Uncovering a Sprout launch party photo

Big Bird, Barney the Dinosaur, walkarounds of Bob and Angelina Mouseling, and Sesame Street star Roscoe Orman (Gordon) at the Sprout launch party in 2005.

Madeline Fretz - I launched this blog almost two years ago. I was twelve, now I'm fourteen. My first post explained why I started this important project, accompanied by pictures of Sprout's launch party, held in San Fransisco's Yerba Buena Gardens in 2005. The launch party, which had both Sprout characters and key people of the channel's founding companies in attendance, was mainly to promote the launch of Comcast's Sprout on Demand service. You see, the Sprout brand was introduced on Comcast on Demand, launching in April 2005, while the 24-hour channel launched five months later on September 26th (we all know that). According to president Sandy Wax, launching Sprout on VOD (video on demand) was a good way to get the word out and get the brand out. Even after all these years, the pictures can still be found on Flickr under the account of Steve Rhodes. Check 'em out!

Well, I found a picture of the launch party today while surfing world wide web that isn't on Flickr. Lo and behold!

Image from Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

Now, I know you may be wondering, how did I find this rare picture? Well, as always, it wasn't easy. If you know me, you know that I'm a big fan of Sprout, as well as the world of children's television in general. To see my history with Sprout, click here (you've probably already seen this post though). I'm serious about Sprout. Not only do I run this blog, but I also run the YouTube fan channel Playtime All the Time and edit as admin Maddiellabie on the PBS Kids Sprout TV Wiki (it was founded by user NeptuneID13, but I started editing regularly on the wiki in late 2020, after leaving my stupid CBeebies wiki. I wish THAT never existed!). As a Sprout historian as well as a fan, I'm always on the lookout for rare pictures, videos, and articles I bet no one has seen before.

Today, I was searching for a picture of the original, pre-September 2005 Sproutletsgrow.com (it existed even before the linear channel launched), using the keywords "Sprout comcast 2005" (some of the images came from my Sprout fansites, such as this one), and came across the picture you see above. It was on Yerba Buena Gardens' website.

The picture has Roscoe Orman (the fourth actor to play Gordon on Sesame Street, after Matt Robinson, Hal Miller, and Garrett Saunders) and walkarounds of Bob from Bob the Builder, Angelina Mouseling from the original Angelina Ballerina, and Elmo from Sesame Street. Note that the Elmo walkaround isn't in the picture at the top of this post, but still, it(he?) was there. 

This picture probably wasn't at the Yerba Buena Gardens launch party.

It is also worth noting that there may have been another Sprout launch party. How can you tell? Well, I doubt that the first generation branding with Big Bird and Thomas and the Teletubbies in the colored circles was used at the first one, and Melanie, the original Goodnight Guide from The Good Night Show, whom I'm assuming was hired after Sprout on Demand launched, was there, so yeah, it was probably to promote the launch of the 24-hour channel in September. I recall seeing an ad for a launch party like this (was in the one in the picture?) on the internet maybe a year ago, and that that ad had the trumpets from the Music ident.

UPDATE (3/18/2022): Here it is!

I'm so glad I found another rare Sprout picture today, and even more spectacular, one of the event that started it all. Parents and Kids Share Together is all about sharing pictures, videos, stories, and memories about Sprout, and I knew here would be the best place to put it!

Click here to find a rare picture on the Parents and Kids Share Together forum!