Winter Games mascot unveiled
Kechi the snowy owl let loose
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, June 12, 2017
HAY RIVER
After months of work on the idea, a mascot has been unveiled for the 2018 Arctic Winter Games in the South Slave.
The mascot for the 2018 Arctic Winter Games in the South Slave was first unveiled at a ceremony in Fort Smith on May 24. - photo courtesy of Thorsten Gohl, 2018 South Slave Arctic Winter Games |
The mascot - based on a snowy owl and named Kechi - made its first appearance in Fort Smith on May 24 at an event to mark 300 days to the start of the Arctic Winter Games.
It then appeared at the Elks Futsal DaRosa Cup tournament in Hay River, held from May 26 to 28.
Arctic Winter Games organizers were very pleased with the reaction.
"We wanted a mascot that was very lovable, that was approachable, that was friendly and non-judgemental," said Julianne Fuller, a member of the board of directors for the South Slave winter games event. "And what better choice than an owl?"
Fuller said the response was very favourable.
"The children have been very warm with him," she said. "I haven't seen any fear in a child."
In fact, she said the children wanted to do nothing more than to hug the mascot.
"You know he's got those big wings that will bring you in, and yet he's a powerful creature, as well," she said.
The mascot was created in a process that began September.
First of all, there was a call for ideas from young people in the South Slave.
Once the ideas were collected, five ideas based on five different animals went to the board of directors, and were then sent on to its cultural committee and a group of elders.
"We chose a concept of five animals and we took those five to elders and our culture committee to discuss what their meanings might be and how they represent the South Slave," Fuller explained. "From the five, we went back to the board with the meanings of the five and what they meant to the South Slave, and chose the owl."
The concept of an owl mascot was then sent to the marketing department to see it actually created.
Fuller said the process has not yet been traced back to find out the student or students who originally suggested a snowy owl mascot, but that will be done and the student or students will be given credit for the idea.
The mascot's name Kechi is the Cree word for power, which fits in with the slogan for the Arctic Winter Games - "Find your power."
