Smokey Bear's first costume was made in Mercer, and the head is still on display there – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Smokey Bear celebrates his 75th anniversary this year as the poster bear for wildfire prevention across the country. 
But Smokey isn’t just a poster bear. Since 1950, he’s existed in 3D form, as a costume worn by rangers, firefighters and volunteers around the country.  
The first Smokey costume wasn’t created in Washington or somewhere out west, but right here in Wisconsin, in the Northwoods town of Mercer.  
Part of the costume — made with a real bear hide — is still in the town, which today is perhaps more famous for another animal. Claire’ d Loon, a 16-foot tall and 2,000-pound creation, has stood outside the Mercer Chamber of Commerce on Highway 51 since 1981. 
Less than half a mile northwest at the Mercer Public Library is the head of the original Smokey Bear costume, protected in a glass enclosure. It was moved to the library from a Department of Natural Resources ranger station in Mercer this year in honor of the 75th birthday so that the public could see it. The library also has vintage Smokey Bear posters on display through August. 
The costume head does not have Smokey’s signature Stetson hat, and it does look disturbingly more realistic than the cartoonish, chubby-cheeked Smokey illustration and current costume, which is not made from real bear fur.  
That realism is due to its materials and makers.  
Mercer Public School students John Klopatek and Heather Cihak documented the costume’s history in the children’s book “Smokey’s First Steps.” 
In 1950, Mercer conservation aide Frank Brunner Jr. was tasked with creating a Smokey Bear statue for a float for the Fireman’s Convention Parade in Hurley. He created a wood frame, carved a head into the top of a cedar post and covered it all in fur. The Smokey statue, with blue jeans and a belt, was placed on the float in a kneeling and praying position in front of other forest animals. A sign above them read, “… and please make people careful, amen.” The scene mimicked a 1948 Smokey poster. The bear’s signature slogan, “Remember — only you can prevent forest fires!” was on a sign on the side of the float.
When rangers saw how positively people reacted to the Smokey statue in the parade, they decided to make a costume. Under the direction of Ranger Bernard Klugow, Brunner worked with Sayner taxidermist Neal Long and Mercer secretary Ada Hart to create the costume, which made its debut in Wausau’s Logging Congress Parade on Sept. 28, 1950. The costume then traveled to schools, fairs and other events around the state. 
The next costume included Smokey’s hat and a bigger head. The original costume fell out of use and was relegated to a forgotten storage space. 
Before Smokey’s 40th birthday in 1984, Mercer fire control assistant Dave Sleight decided to track down the original costume. He found it in a DNR warehouse in Tomahawk, and together with John Bernier and a class at Mercer High School, Sleight created a display case for the costume. 
Why only the head remains today is murky. Catherine Koele, a wildfire prevention specialist with the DNR, said in her nearly 20 years of working for the DNR, she’s only seen the head and it’s always been in the case.  
Koele oversees how the DNR’s 60 current Smokey Bear costumes are deployed around the state (the forest service has another half dozen, she said). Koele has worn one herself, and said, “It should be on every forestry employee’s bucket list. It’s kind of a rite of passage for greenhorns that come into forestry.” 
She said the costume is hot, even though it has a fan and ice-filed cooling packs. It’s also difficult to see where you’re walking, she said, because you can’t see your feet. For help with that, Smokey always travels with a handler.
That handler, or official escort, speaks for Smokey, who is not allowed to talk. The costume and Smokey’s image are closely protected and regulated by the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program, which is a coalition of the U.S. Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters, and the Ad Council; his image is protected by an act of Congress and he is not in the public domain.  
According to CFFP guidelines, Smokey can appear at events only “to further public information, education, and awareness of wildfire prevention” and not at events like retirement parties or summer picnics where he is treated as a celebrity appearance or photo opportunity.  
“We take it very seriously,” Koele said. “We only really bring him out when it ties directly to fire prevention.” 
That might include parades in communities that could be threatened by fire, mainly in Wisconsin’s central and northwestern sands areas.  
The strict guidelines have helped maintain Smokey’s image, which is part of the longest-running public service advertising campaign in U.S. history. 
“That’s allowed him to be kind of an icon in history as a mascot,” Koele said. 
It’s not hard to imagine someone would want Smokey at their summer party — he’s beloved by kids and adults alike, Koele said. 
“The beauty of Smokey is that he resonates with every age,” she said. “I think he’s been able to sustain because his message really hasn’t changed. It’s about personal responsibility. We’re not selling a product other than to be safe with fire.” 
In Wisconsin, 98% of wildfires are caused by humans, Koele said. That’s compared to 84% across the country, according to a study from the University of Colorado in 2017. 
Koele said the disparity is due to Wisconsin’s greater wildland-urban interface, which means the state has more areas where nature meets communities or residences.
And the primary human problem isn’t campfires, as many might think. 
The leading human cause of wildfires in Wisconsin is burning debris. Another common cause is equipment like lawn mowers and sparks from dragging chains on things being towed. Then come miscellaneous causes like improper ash disposal, arson, power lines, fireworks and campfires.
Natural causes, like lightning, are rarer in Wisconsin than places out West, Koele said.  
But not all fire is bad. Some fire is necessary to clear underbrush and refresh landscapes like prairies. If there are no fires, the underbrush and trees grow to fuel even bigger wildfires. And as humans have encroached more on wildlands, fire managers have had to work to put out any and all fires to save lives and property. 
The DNR does conduct prescribed burns in Wisconsin to restore and maintain certain landscapes. 
“Fire is a natural and necessary component of ecosystems such as native prairies and oak openings and pine and oak barrens,” the department’s website says. “Periodic fire is required for regeneration and growth of fire adapted species within these systems. Land managers use prescribed burning to assist in restoring and maintaining these rare plant and animal communities.” 
Partly to distinguish between those managed fires and uncontrolled wildfires, and also in response to a rash of fires in natural areas that were not forests, in 2001 the forest service changed Smokey’s slogan from “Only you can prevent forest fires” to “Only you can prevent wildfires.” 
Smokey Bear’s story starts in World War II. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and then fired shells on an oil field near Los Padres National Forest in California, Americans feared the potential for the war to spark dangerous wildfires. 
With experienced firefighters and other men deployed, communities were left to fight fires themselves. But rather than fight them, the idea of preventing fires was born.  
The CFFP, with the War Advertising Council and the Association of State Foresters, first created posters with slogans like “Forest Fires Aid the Enemy,” and “Our Carelessness, Their Secret Weapon.” 
Then in 1942, Disney’s “Bambi” hit the big screen. Walt Disney let the CFFP use Bambi’s image in a 1944 poster, and using an animal as a mascot for fire prevention proved to be a wild success.  
Because Disney had only lent Bambi for one year, the CFFP had to find another animal to continue its campaign. On Aug. 9, 1944, Smokey Bear was created by the Forest Service, named for “Smokey” Joe Martin, the former assistant chief of the New York City Fire Department.
In October, German-born New York artist Albert Staehle created Smokey Bear in cartoon form, under the direction of Richard Hammatt with the forest service, according to the book “How McGruff and the Crying Indian Changed America: A History of Iconic Ad Council Campaigns” by Wendy Melillo. Hammatt and his team added jeans and a hat to Staehle’s Smokey, who was drawn pouring water on a campfire. That image would be Smokey’s first poster. In 1947, the bear got his signature slogan. 
Smokey came to life in 1950, when forest fires ravaged the Captain Mountains in New Mexico. After the fire passed, firefighters found a black bear cub with badly burned paws and hind legs who had climbed a tree to escape the fire. They first named him “Hotfoot Teddy,” but soon changed it to “Smokey Bear,” and took him to Santa Fe to treat him. 
The real-life Smokey Bear became famous across the country, and when he recovered, he went to live at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where he remained until his death in 1976. He was so popular and received so many letters and gifts that he got his own ZIP code in 1965.
In 1980 artist Rudy Wendelin created posters of Smokey with more human-like hands, which he still has today. Four years later, the bear made it on to his own postage stamp. 
Some other animals have joined Smokey’s ranks as mascots for public service campaigns over the years, including Woodsy Owl, who was created in 1971 and has slogans like “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” and “Lend a Hand, Care for the Land.” But none resonated quite like Smokey.  
And to clear up a long-running mistake: “It’s Smokey Bear, not Smokey the Bear,” Koele said. “It’s not Mickey the Mouse or Santa the Claus.”
The confusion comes from a 1952 song by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins. To get the right rhythm, they put “the” between Smokey and Bear in the chorus, and they called the song “Smokey the Bear.” The incorrect name had sticking power and is still heard today.  
But Smokey Bear — with or without the “the” — lives on as a symbol for wildfire prevention, from posters and statues to the costume interacting with enthralled kids and adults around the country. 
This year Smokey even showed off his dancing skills. In a video produced by the DNR, he dances with firefighters and DNR employees as they sing an ode to his birthday and fire prevention to the tune of the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.”  
And of course, modern Smokey has his own website (smokeybear.com) and social media accounts on Twitter (@smokey_bear), Facebook (facebook.com/smokeybear), Instagram (@smokeybear) and YouTube (youtube.com/smokeybear). 
In honor of Smokey’s 75th birthday, the WDNR has teamed up with Box of Balloons to create camping-themed birthday boxes for children in need. The nonprofit and the DNR put together 200 boxes with everything needed to throw a birthday party: decorations, games, tableware and gifts including a Smokey Bear stuffed animal. Smokey himself also will deliver boxes to birthday boys and girls. See boxofballoons.org for more.
Smokey Bear will be at State Fair Aug. 1-11 to celebrate his birthday.  His schoolhouse will be at the DNR’s Exploratory Park on the south side of the fairgrounds, and he’ll be wandering the grounds to check some items off his bucket list, maybe riding the giant slide or the sky glider. His official birthday party will be at Exploratory Park from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 9.
More birthday celebrations: 1-2 p.m. Aug. 9, Crystal Lake Nature Center, Northern Highland American Legion State Forest, Boulder Junction; 10 -11 a.m. Aug. 10, Buckhorn State Park, Necedah; 12-1 p.m. Aug. 10, Connors Lake Picnic Area, Flambeau River State Forest, Winter; 1-2:30 p.m. Aug. 10, Mirror Lake State Park, Baraboo; 1-3 p.m. Aug. 10, Kohler-Andrae State Park, Sheboygan; 2-3 p.m. Aug. 10 Roche-A-Cri State Park, Friendship; 4-5 p.m. Aug. 10, Hartman Creek State Park, Waupaca; 6-7 p.m. Aug. 10, Pike Lake, Kettle Moraine State Forest-Northern Unit, Hartford.
Contact Chelsey Lewis at (414) 224-2144 or clewis@journalsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseylew and @TravelMJS and Facebook at Journal Sentinel Travel.

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