Two new mascots are designed to help make Cloverdale Rodeo & Country Fair a more kid-friendly experience.
The cowboy hat-wearing characters – one male, one female, both with a Toy Story-like look – were first seen publicly during the Santa Claus parades held in Vancouver and Cloverdale on Dec. 2.
“Our focus, our programming, is for kids and for country, so this is just a better look for us,” Mike MacSorley, general manager of Cloverdale Rodeo & Exhibition Association, said Thursday.
“It’s kind of fun, and this is just another way of us getting more into the community and have ourselves more noticeable.”
The mascots were made by Toronto-based Sugar’s Mascots for $5,000 a piece, according to MacSorley.
“What we do is a mascot dance party during the rodeo,” he said, “and all we had was animals for kids to dance with, and I thought it’d be more appropriate to have human-looking, or cartoon-looking, mascots for that, as opposed to just animals. That was my motivation.
Cloverdale Rodeo mascots visit the photo booth at Kidz Zone. pic.twitter.com/FIuVq6t4G6
— Cloverdale Rodeo (@CloverdaleRodeo) May 17, 2015
“We had a bull, cows and a horse, and they were old and starting to get rundown,” MacSorley added. “We’re still going to use them as well, but I thought we needed a fresh look, because we’re trying to refresh our whole branding.”
A contest to name the mascots will be held closer to next May’s rodeo dates.
“For now, they’re nameless,” MacSorley said.
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