polkaroo, polkaroo, polkaroo

Those of you in Ontario will be familiar with Polkaroo, the mysterious creature who appeared on the TVO show Polka Dot Door. On the show, live hosts, a male and a female would interact with stuffed toys like Marigold and Humpty. These were not the highest quality stuffed todays, very round, exaggerated and childish. Perfect for the audience, and we were talking about a show that aired on Ontario's public broadcaster. The male host would disappear at times, and the mysterious Polkaroo would appear and exclaim his name over and over again.


I've been thinking about Polkaroo and the Polka Dot Door a lot lately after seeing the new mascots for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. They were announced several weeks ago and I meant to blog about them at the time, but never did. However, they've been bouncing around in my head ever since. Here's a photo of them:



The photo, was part of a story the Globe and Mail did on the mascots. The three mascots, representing a sea bear (Miga), a legendary Sasquatch (Quatchi) and an animal spirit hybrid (Sumi), are inspired by aboriginal myths and the province's wildlife.

I don't know about you, but mascots that need a lot of interpretation and explanation just don't work for me. Sumi (insert law school joke here), is part bear, whale and bird. I applaud the VANOC for finally incorporating some local aboriginal traditions, considering the image of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics is an Inukshuk, which is a symbol of the Inuit of the Eastern and Western Arctic, not the pacific coast.

However, mascots directed at kids should be simple and easy to understand. As much as the Polka Dot Door toys were not fancy, as a kid I could understand them. You had Humpty, Dumpty, Bear and Marigold. I bet you can pick them all out. Polkaroo appeared on imagination day and was supposed to be part of your imagination. These are all easy concepts to understand.

In fact, looking at the picture above, I'm a little embarrassed by the mascots. However, when drawn, rather than as 3D character costumes they are better: