It’s what some might call the ultimate inside job, so no wonder Victoria’s most popular mascots have such secret lives. Indeed, we wouldn’t dare try to unmask Marty the Marmot, Harvey the HarbourCat or Bongy. This would be akin to yanking Santa’s beard off in public.
To reveal their identities would shatter the illusion the humans-within depend upon to function as colourful ambassadors for sports teams, retailers or even to raise a stink about sewage treatment.
Remember Mr. Floatie, the infamous talking turd who surfaced in his feces-shaped costume years ago to pester sewage-treatment opponents?
Mr. Floatie’s fame was not unlike Bongy’s sudden notoriety. When the controversial furry bong-shaped mascot for Esquimalt’s Bong Warehouse caught U.S. satirist Stephen Colbert’s attention recently, he was thrust into the international spotlight, with attempts by municipal councillors to squash sales of drug paraphernalia in E-Town skewered on The Colbert Report.
Retailer Ryan Place admits he never thought the mascot he concocted to “lighten the mood” about the marijuana debate would become a superstar.
“I figured ‘Football teams have them, why can’t the marijuana movement?’ ” said Place, since overwhelmed by photo requests. “It got to the point we thought we might put out a Bongy calendar.”
Marty the Marmot, the Victoria Royals Hockey Club’s official team mascot, is a much more wholesome cheerleader beloved by sports fans since he first made his mark with the Salmon Kings in 2008.
Communicating by email, he said he’ll never forget hordes of fans chanting “Marty! Marty! Marty!” after his Evolution of Dance performance that year.
“It still makes my fur rise thinking about it,” recalled Marty, who said he loves “teasing the captives of the visitor penalty box — especially when the Royals score power-play goals!”
Marty has so many fond memories, it’s hard to pick a favourite, he said, but he was particularly touched during a recent home stand for the Royals when the Hodson family was reunited.
“The father returned from military service in Afghanistan and surprised his twin daughters before the start of our game. The standing ovation sent chills up and down my spine.”
Community affection for Marty was obvious when the crowd booed and sent get-well messages after a so-called fan aggressively tackled the mascot during a game against the Red Deer Rebels.
While he said “the Marmot Temple does follow a training regimen,” Marty is not invincible.
“Endurance is key, but not in a run-five-miles-a-day type of way,” he said. “The fur weight prevents serious running … but I do walk a lot and try to avoid eating anything considered heavy.”
Harvey the HarbourCat, the frisky feline mascot for the West Coast League baseball team, the Victoria Harbour Cats, has a growing fan base of his own.
“You’ve got to be like a kitten on speed,” laughs the lean UVic political science student inside the catsuit where he can work up a sweat.
“It’s like if you put on a sweatsuit and go into a sauna. When you come out it’s like there are walls of sweat. It takes you two showers to get rid of that.”
While some overzealous fans have pulled at Harvey’s tail, the insider said he enjoys building “unspoken friendships with people you don’t really even know.”
Although he doesn’t consider himself to “be” Harvey, he tries to have fun and has “an internal mental song going on in my head” as he brings Harvey to life.
He said he has discovered there’s “no stereotypical person you would expect to be a mascot,” and that there is no “off” time when you’re in that suit.
“You’re always on,” he said. “You have to take all those personal things you don’t like doing, and give them up to some random person. You can’t be yourself.”
Expect the unexpected, he advises wannabes, recalling how someone at Symphony Splash asked Harvey to participate in a nerve-jangling photo opportunity.
“I’ve got reduced vision, right, and suddenly this guy puts a 10-pound squirming baby in my arms. Whoa.”