{"id":6819,"date":"2023-03-29T18:37:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T18:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olympusmascots.com\/?p=6819"},"modified":"2024-02-01T22:36:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T22:36:29","slug":"west-iron-county-wykon-mascot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olympusmascots.com\/our-projects\/west-iron-county-wykon-mascot\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of the West Iron Wykon"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Legend of the Iron County Wykon<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Why a Wykon?<\/h3>\n

On the border between Wisconsin and Michigan sits Iron County, Michigan. Iron County is home to miles of snow mobile trails, a tight-knit community, and a vast amount of Iron ore. This is the norm for most of Michigan\u2019s Upper peninsula. However, Iron County is the only county where you\u2019ll find a Wykon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the heck is a Wykon?\u201d you may ask yourself, and we don\u2019t blame you. Before this project, nobody on our staff had heard of such a thing. A Wykon is a three-legged mythological creature made over 50 years ago by Floyd Carlson, Donald MacDonald, and Brandon Giovanelli. All were members of the West Iron County faculty, and at the time, the county was being consolidated. Bates Township School, Iron River Public School, and Stambaugh Township schools were being combined under the West Iron County Public Schools system. As a result of this merger, a new mascot was needed. Giovanelli, an art teacher at the then Stambaugh High School, used his experience to create what we\u2019re left with today.<\/p>\n

According to legend, the \u201cS\u201d made by the tail stands for Stambaugh, while the main body and upper leg represent \u201cIR\u201d, a reference to Iron River. Although, Giovanelli admits this was merely a coincidence.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Old Mascot Costume’s Retirement<\/h3>

In the 1980\u2019s this drawing was brought to life in the form of a mascot costume. West Iron County definitely got the max life expectancy out of it, as this mascot costume was used for over 40 years. However, towards the tail end of those years, the mascot costume was deteriorating to the point where it was rarely used. It finally met its end in 2022, when the mascot costume attended a parade celebrating hometown hero, Nick Baumgartner.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Iron County local, Nick Baumgartner, earned a gold medal in snowboarding for the USA in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics!<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Taking on A New Challenge<\/h3>

The original mascot costume served the community well for many decades, but now it was time to retire it. Enter Kevin Schmutzler, Superintendent of West Iron Public Schools. Kevin headed up the project of getting his district a new mascot costume. Soon after taking on this project, he found our company. The process had officially begun!<\/p>

Kevin explained to us the significance behind the Wykon, and why his county deserved to have a mascot that honored their history. Like many schools, he needed something that could be used all year round, and that children would be excited to interact with. However, the West Iron Wykon was unlike anything else that had been designed before. It looked like mythological cross between a lion and a dragon. Something that we had yet to come across in our over 45+ years of mascot making experience.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Nevertheless, we started sketching up some ideas. In the meantime, Kevin started to work on fundraising. Like many schools, funding for projects outside the typical new books or new art supplies is hard to come by. Kevin knew that some of the money for this new Wykon mascot was going to have to come from somewhere outside the school district\u2019s budget. After reviewing all of his options, 2 different sources of outside funding emerged.<\/p>

  1. The School\u2019s Athletic Booster club.<\/li>
  2. A CD (Certificate of Deposit) owned by the school district which was made up of money collected via the school\u2019s vending machines.<\/li><\/ol>

    West Iron County\u2019s Athletic booster club was able to finance half of the cost of the mascot. This investment meant that the booster club was now engaged in the project. Their reputation and reach in the school district would prove extremely valuable when it came to rallying support for a new mascot.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \u201cWe\u2019re a small rural district up here in the upper peninsula. The best shows in town should be Friday night football and Friday night basketball games. It should be the thing to do, and one way we can make it better is by bringing this mascot, the history and tradition behind it, to a 3D feature.\u201d <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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    Kevin Schmutzler<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
    Superintendent - West Iron Public Schools<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Building Up Hype<\/h3>

    At this point, Kevin had the design, the funding, and the support behind making the school\u2019s mascot dream come true. Now all that was needed to do was decide how they were going to reveal the new mascot. It just so happened that their new Wykon mascot would be finished in time for West Iron\u2019s homecoming women\u2019s basketball game against the school\u2019s neighbor and biggest rival, Forest Park. If West Iron could pair a hard-fought victory with the reveal of their new mascot, they would be sure to make headlines.<\/p>

    With the date decided on, arrangements for the actual event itself needed to be made. They immediately got the school\u2019s art teacher, Mrs. Porier, involved. She would be responsible for making the banner the Wykon would run through. Lights in the gym would be off, creating complete darkness. A spotlight would be setup to direct the crowd\u2019s attention to the banner. A Lion\u2019s roar would be played at peak of a hype up song. Then the Wykon would burst through the banner with the basketball team running onto the court shortly after.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    This video was shown in every classroom in the school and was played on the TV\u2019s in the school\u2019s hallways.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Now that the reveal\u2019s details were ironed out, it was time to get the community hyped up. The best way to do this was to get them involved. A competition to decide the official name of the Wykon was started. Students were given one week to come up with ideas and whichever got the most votes would win. The student who suggested the winning name would receive access to \u201cThe best seats in the house\u201d for the homecoming game and a gift certificate for the school store. These seats were built by the school\u2019s building\/trade class and consisted of 2 recliners on platform built on top of the bleachers.<\/p>

    To promote maximum attendance, the school also announced that any kids dressed in the school\u2019s blue and white colors would get in the game for free. They also held an audition for students to be the mascot performer. Students that applied were shown our handy dandy \u201cHow to Perform as a Mascot\u201d video to give them some pointers. Finally, they had their video productions class put together a highlight reel that focused on the history behind the Wykon.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    The Reveal<\/h3>

    Eventually, the time came to reveal the mascot. The student mascot performers were selected, the mascot costume was ready to go, and the bleachers were PACKED. All the community\u2019s hard work was about to pay off. Ladies and Gentlemen, we\u2019d like to introduce you to \u201cWesty\u201d the Wykon:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Shoutout to West Iron County Senior, Dale Kemppainen, for recording and producing this video!<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    A Huge Success!<\/h3>

    Success! Everything went according to plan! The mascot looked fantastic, the presentation was sublime, and the community was ecstatic. As a little cherry on top, West Iron County proceeded to DOMINATE the court against their rival.<\/p>

    In conclusion, we\u2019d like how much we appreciate the uniqueness of Westy Wykon and the community that surrounds him. It\u2019s not every day we get to learn the background and see the behind the scenes of one of our mascots. It\u2019s always a pleasure to work with our neighbors up North, but working with Kevin and West Iron County Schools was an extremely rewarding experience for us. If you\u2019re ever up in there neck of the woods, we recommend stopping by the school for a game or two. You may just see the legendary Wykon in the wild!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    If you skip ahead to 0:03:30, you\u2019ll witness the mascot reveal from the fan\u2019s Point of View. At 1:11:00 you\u2019ll see the Westy in the halftime show. Listen to the roar of the crowd!<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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