THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
If it's not there already, a large inflatable animal will soon appear in Mike Labine's Fort Smith yard.
Mike Labine stands next to a large inflatable Muffaloose, which he recently had made in Edmonton. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo |
He has turned the Muffaloose - a mythical cross between a moose and a buffalo which has been a symbol of Fort Smith for almost 40 years - into a 10-foot long, eight-foot high balloon animal.
Labine created the heavy vinyl creature to replace the plywood Muffaloose that pulls the Santa Sleigh, another Fort Smith tradition which been spreading Christmas cheer around the community since 1986.
"For the last couple of years I was thinking of options of getting rid of the old plywood cutouts and switching to something different," said Labine, who has co-ordinated the Santa Sleigh for the past four years.
So he contacted an Edmonton company called Windship Advertising, which he said has created a number of other notable inflatables in the Alberta capital including a gorilla, a weightlifter and various other critters to float above car dealerships.
The company agreed to do an inflatable Muffaloose based on the character trademarked by the Town of Fort Smith, so Labine started fundraising to collect the $2,650 needed for the project.
"I succeeded in getting $2,500 in fundraising. I kicked in the difference," he said, noting he was also able to get in-kind support for various improvements to the Santa Sleigh.
About one month after ordering the Muffaloose, the animal is now in Labine's possession and he says he is very happy with the final product, noting it is very sturdy - yet also very light.
"You can pick the whole thing up and move it around," he said. "It's very, very strong. It's got fiberglass reinforcement in the body, so when you blow it up it becomes really, really tough."
Mayor Brad Brake confirmed the Town of Fort Smith contributed $1,000 towards the new-and-improved Muffaloose.
"I felt it was a good idea, and I suggested to Mike that we bring it to council and see if we couldn't get some funding for it," he said, adding he believes it has the potential to become an attraction because people will want to get their pictures taken with it.
"It's good for the town to support things like that, especially if we can use it for our own purposes," he said.
"We're all for it."
Brake said the city will find other jobs for the Muffaloose at various events in the community throughout the year.
Labine agrees-he expects the portable inflatable will be used for other events, such as Wood Buffalo Frolics and Canada Day.
His plans don't end with the eight-by-10 foot inflatable. He says he's looking at possibly getting a smaller version of the Muffaloose to also add to the float and has already raised some funds.
"I expect when the Santa float goes ahead in December that everything will be in place," he said.
As of Feb. 11, only a few people had seen the large Muffaloose, which Labine has only occasionally inflated in the privacy of his garage.
Originally, he was going to wait for next month's Wood Buffalo Frolics Winter Carnival to introduce it to the community, but "people have heard about it and people have been kind of teasing me about it and wanting to know how come I don't have it set up in the yard for everybody to look at," he said.
He explained he hadn't shown it off as of last week because of the extreme cold.
"I'm just holding off until the weather picks up a bit," said Labine.
However, he noted such inflatables can sit outside year-round if necessary and he has been told the new Muffaloose should last 10 years.
The Muffaloose's visage is common around Fort Smith, showing up in drawings, a creation story, a costume that shows up at some special occasions and even as a mounted head at the entrance to the Fort Smith Rec Centre.
The mascot was originally developed by the now-defunct Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce in the 1970s.
