BENTON, Ark — The City of Benton today introduced a new city mascot to be used for promotion at all city events and economic development opportunities to overwhelmingly excited residents.
Officially named “Ben Peters”, the new city of Benton mascot is described as “7ft 1 and tons of fun, the happiest fellow in town”. Several residents we interviewed at the unveiling ceremony were just as happy as Ben about the new mascot.
“To be honest, he looks a bit like a…,” Benton resident John Holmes tells us. “You know what, nevermind, I am sure it will go over just fine. I just wish he didn’t make the rest of us look so bad.”
“Whoa, good morning Benton,”recently divorced Benton resident Linda Boreman says. “Are you fully inflated or just happy to see us? No one is going to miss this big fella walking around. Is he available for private economic development events?”
“I knew I moved here from Bryant for a reason,” new Benton resident Sasha Grey tells us. “The best thing that ever happened in Bryant was the fire truck car washes on Thursdays.”
City of Benton’s promotions spokesperson Ron Hyatt says that he hopes to get the new mascot out to promote the city several times a week. The city has to be careful not to overuse the mascot he explains.
“We would love to get this out as much as possible, however overuse could cause some deflation issues so we need to be careful how frequently we use it to stimulate growth for the city,” Hyatt says. “When we do use it, it has several neat modifications. We have attached a tshirt cannon to the top that will shoot out white shirts that say ‘Come to Benton’. That modification however is a bit delayed due to a typo on the shirts.”
Nearby cities say they have plans to get in on the action soon too. The city of Bryant hopes to introduce the “V for visitor” mascot to help with tourism. The city of Bauxite plans to introduce the Bauxite Baby mascot about 9 months after a scheduled event promoting Saline County tourism that both the Benton and Bryant mascots are scheduled to attend.
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