Harvey the Hound was the first mascot in the NHL. A friend of mine pitched the idea to the Calgary Flames in 1984, and I came on board as Harvey. Every time a team came to play at the Saddledome, I'd get a call a couple of days later saying, "Hey, that's a great idea-could you build one for us?" Since 1987, we've made half the characters in the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NHL. We've done more pro teams than anybody. So chances are that if you turn on the TV and see a mascot, we made it.
My first mascot job was actually with the Calgary Stampede. That costume weighed 85 pounds. It was made out of copper pipe. When I was Harvey, I used to lose eight pounds a game-all water, unfortunately. We're covering somebody head to toe in a fur suit and saying, "See those stairs? Run up and down them for three hours." There aren't many mascots that make it to 40.
Each Street Characters costume has to be lightweight, mobile and durable. Our costumes weigh about 16 pounds. Some manufacturers still use upholstery foam, which acts like a giant sponge. The foams we use don't absorb moisture. And we put a hockey helmet inside the head, so rather than having to turn your shoulders, you can turn your head quickly. It really helps animate the character.
A lot of people think that putting on a costume is a licence to be an idiot. It's not. These are high-profile brands, so you can't have someone grabbing and groping people. You want the character to endear itself to the audience. A lot of American teams want a fierce, tough-looking mascot. But we try to explain that they may want that image for the team, but not for the mascot. I bet that if I asked what your favourite mascots are, they'd be fun, cartoony characters.
We have 15 employees in our sewing area, where they make the costumes, and in props, where they build the head and feet. We do almost six mascots a week. We just did a number of characters for the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant chain.We shipped one to the Philippines and one to Hong Kong. The only continent where we don't have a client is Antarctica. A friend of mine knows a scientist who works down there, so I'm thinking we may send down a penguin.
BY THE NUMBERS:
$7,000 Top price for a handmade Street Characters mascot
8 lbs Amount of weight Glenn Street lost per game in his Harvey the Hound costume