The Mastodons were fun. But big shoes?
To fund Team Dreams, the Visitors Bureau is offering fiberglass and weatherproof shoes 7 feet by 4 feet by 3 feet to businesses purchasing a $7,500 tournament sponsorship package. To maximize visibility of the sponsors, each custom-designed shoe will spend time in various locales in the city, including Glenbrook Square, Jefferson Pointe and downtown.
The shoes will be moved to Spiece Fieldhouse for the tournaments.
In 2005, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and United Way of Allen County organized the Mastodon project, resulting in a herd of 102 fiberglass mastodons around the city. IPFW, whose mascot is the mastodon, developed the project as part of its 40th-anniversary celebration.
I don't think so -- a cute idea taken, er, one step too far. What made the Mastodons fun was all the things that were done to them -- in an airplane, in a manhole, in a stagecoach, in a jack-in-the-box. The logos on the sides will be different, but a shoe pretty much looks like a shoe.
Comments
Maybe they have a subliminal message there...we're supposed to walk in them for a mile maybe?
Fort Wayne - Room For Sweatsocks!
Wouldn't it be something if the same target market of businesses were equally enthusiastic about investing $7,500 to support students striving to excel in science, economics, engineering and the arts?
I'm not all that concerned about the success or failure of one more campaign for ball games, except maybe to the extent that it might actually reduce business' financial ability to support other campaigns to reward other types of academic excellence.
thank you Steve. This would actually do something to stem the flow of brain drain in Ft Wayne. Ft Wayne is a great town, we are just not utilizing it to it's best attributes.
I respect the popularity of ball games, the kids who excel at them and the parents who follow them. America's fascination with our favorite leisure sports translates into economic benefits to many segments of society, no doubt about it.
But we should be ashamed if we don't support our kids who excel in so many other vital pursuits essential to our own quality of life as well as America's continued global leadership in matters of real progress.
As long as we remain willing to support the full spectrum of areas where our kids may shine, we can feel satisfaction that we do our part to support the next generations. We can lend our financial support to a range of our young people's endeavors.
BUT (you knew this was coming) if we squander all our resources on the players of games, no matter how popular certain games may be, and fail all the rest of our children who are equally committed to their own disciplines in areas like the sciences, human services, art, music, architecture, economics and business, then maybe we should take a Saturday off from the Bud and the big-screen, and consider how we might do a smarter job of distributing our financial support (as contributors AND consumers) to support ALL our kids' talents.
Assuring our children have the resources to advance as far as they are able, in all career paths where they happen to excel, is our obligation -- to our kids, our society and to the nation's future.