New Brunswick to Introduce New Mascot, Field Day the Fox

NEW BRUNSWICK – There’s a fox afoot in New Brunswick.

Field Day the Fox, the city’s new mascot and the newest member of the Recreation Department team, will make its debut Thursday, Oct. 24, at 9 a.m.

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Furry, red and sporting an air of Hub City confidence, Field Day will be joined at City Hall by the New Brunswick High School Zebra and several other mascots from sports teams and schools from across Central Jersey.

Keith Jones II, the director of the Department of Human and Community Services, said you can expect to see Field Day around the city throughout the year at events ranging from opening days for sports programs to parades, festivals, holiday celebrations and more.

“This is the kind of stuff that government needs,” Jones said. “There’s a side of government that can be fun and also just as important as all the other things that government does; the impact and how we engage with residents, how we engage with other employees, how we engage with staff, how we engage with other towns.

“It means something, and it doesn’t always have to be through a memo, through a press release or some sort of ordinance,” he added. “It could be just as simple as a mascot, and these are the connections that people don’t forget.”

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Jones said conversations about finding new ways of engaging the city’s kids started around the time of the spring remodel of the Recreation Department’s Fitness Center. Another question was: How does the Recreation Program connect to Rutgers.

“With the energy Recreation has had in the last year or so, it felt like it needed to have another piece,” he said. “In a way, we’re all mascots for Recreation right now. So, it was like, ‘Let’s go ahead and make it official.’”

Although there are plans to give Field Day his own social media presence and build out the Field Day brand, at the end of the day mascots are just plain fun for children of all ages, said Superintendent of Recreation Ivan Adorno.

“Any sports event, anywhere you’ve seen a mascot, they tend to be kind of the spirit animal of the event,” he said. “They’ll liven up the event, get everybody going, kind of be the energy. So, I expect the mascot to have that same energy as the crowd, and vice versa, especially with our kids. I think they’re going to enjoy it.”

Adorno said a fox was chosen over some other animal or thing because it was unique. Plus, he felt the fox (Nick Wilde) from the Disney animated film “Zootopia” seemed to embody some traits that seem inherent to New Brunswick: hard-working, smart, resourceful and determined.

“He was very sly and he did whatever he had to do to get the job done,” he said. “So, to me, I was like, ‘That’s our fox.’ ”

Michael Tublin, who runs New Brunswick’s Sister Cities program, will be the man behind the mask for Field Day’s launch, but others could don the costume that was made by a California-based company. Jones said the city is investigating creating a program with Rutgers to allow students looking to advance their collegiate careers as a mascot or in cheerleading to don the costume.

“Whenever you go to a sporting event – in particular, a sporting event – you never really get to get with the players, but you always can get with the mascot,” said deputy director Edmund DeVeaux. “Whenever you are sitting in the bleachers, when you’re waving and want to be acknowledged, players don’t do it. Coaches don’t do it. The mascot does.

“So, it’s just another great tool to let people feel welcome and feel engaged,” he added.

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