Today, I went to the Pompton Day Festival in Pompton Lakes to do a mascot gig with the Hi-4 group. Because of the rainy weather, we didn't know if Pompton Day would take place today or on the rain date until we got the word early this morning that it was happening as planned.
I brought the husky fursuit to give it a trial run. I was the first in the group to get there because I didn't live too far away. (This town is in my after-work geocaching zone. :) ) So I waited a little while and then Damian,
foxwell, rapidtrabbit, and Dreamwolf arrived. We set up in a locker room at Lakeside Elementary. Then we changed into our costumes and basically took walks down Lakeside Avenue from one end of the festival to the other end and back (1.1-mile round trip), interacting with the people and kids along the way. I did that twice, taking a break between the two to grab a late lunch at the food court.We originally intended to continue mascotting until dark, but the school building caretaker told us that he was closing the building at 6pm. So we packed up and left at that time. Then we went to Fuddruckers in Wayne for the after-gig dinner.
The verdict on the husky fursuit? It turned out to be pretty good for outdoor gigs. The bodysuit is light and not terribly hot to wear, and the head seemed fairly airy. The main thing I changed on the suit was to reinforce the soles of the feet with shelf liner and that seems to be holding up well, even though I had my doubts about the adhesive that I used. Chestnut Husky was also a hit with the kids (and some adults too), although half of them thought he was a wolf.