The 2006 Campaign Trail - Vote Vermont Basketball

MLN Newswire - Spent Labor Day doing a parade and a fair. Ask any politician: For a campaign that culminates in November—and that’s what our launch of a pro basketball team is, a campaign culminating in November—there’s no better retailing “storefront,” as it were, than the slew of fairs, festivals, parades and other community gatherings that take place in Vermont between Memorial Day and Halloween.

For Northfield’s famous Labor Day Parade, I pulled on, for the first time, the suit of our mascot, Bump the Moose. In other parades over the summer, wearers of our mascot suit have enjoyed the benefit of a chauffeured ride in an open convertible or on the flatbed of a pickup truck. This time Bump was on his own.

With the aid of his trusty spotter, Frost Heaves intern and University of Vermont student Corey Brownell, Bump took his place in front of the campus of Norwich University, just behind the Harley-Davidson club. The parade was still 10 minutes off, so Bump followed the lead of Mr. Froggy, the gamboling mascot of our flagship radio station, Barre’s WSNO, and scrambled up on to the back of one of the choppers. Given the limited sight lines through the mascot suit, I couldn’t see that the particular motorcycle I’d surmounted had, flying from its rear, a confederate flag. Bad move: Mascot for team full of black guys cavorts with stars and bars! Fortunately, the digital picture Corey snapped kept the offending flag safely out of the frame.

Between the pull of the kids along the route hankering for hugs, and the push of the rent-a-cop marshals who kept barking, “Move it along! You’re WAY behind!” Bump was one knackered mascot by the time we reached the town common. Zig-zagging from curb to curb to meet his public, Bump probably walked 50% longer than your average marcher. But I’ve got to believe that each kid Bump hugged will be a Frost Heaves fan for life.

After that, Corey and I did a wardrobe change in Mr. Froggy’s van, then hightailed it up Interstate 89 to staff our booth for the final shift at the Champlain Valley Fair. We had prime real estate there, next to Dizzy Dozen Donuts and across from the high dive, where four times a day huge crowds would reliably gather.

To get our players out to meet the public, and give them a chance to make a little extra money, we’d put them in the booth in pairs—Kevin Mickens and Kevin Harrington for some shifts; Tyrone Levett and Travarus Bennett for others.

It got pretty competitive, but the Southern charm of the latter—Ty is from Notsaluga, Ala., and Travarus from Rosedale, Miss.—proved to be decisive.

Herewith, the Ty and Trav Foolproof Merchandise Marketing Method:
• Spot juvenile mark from at least 10 paces.
• Palm ABA mini-ball and use impressive wingspan to extend said ball well into midway.
• By the time juvenile arrives at booth, trailing parent is already reaching for wallet.
• Wield Sharpie conspicuously and offer to autograph mini-ball, which clinches the sale.

Of the 59 mini-balls we moved during the nine days of the Fair, the players sold virtually all of them.

Before the season tips off on November 10, we’ll do at least three other events: the Tunbridge World’s Fair, the Stowe Oktoberfest, and the Church Street Marketplace Halloween event in Burlington. At each we’ll have orange roadsign BUMP magnets to hand out, along with our long-awaited schedule.