What happened to the Detroit Free Press Yak mascot?

The Detroit Free Press used to have a mascot, each in cartoon kind and in actual life… er, furry.

Coated in shaggy brown hair, the Yak was one of many Free Press’s most recognizable faces from the early Nineteen Nineties by means of 2013.

The mascot was tied to a mini-newspaper for younger readers known as YAK! that appeared weekly within the Free Press. It may very well be pulled out, reduce and folded into an eight-page mini-newspaper.

There was additionally a smaller print part known as the Yak’s Nook, which appeared extra steadily.

The goal of the part was to achieve kids aged 6 to 11 and encourage them to learn.

When did the cartoon Yak first seem within the Detroit Free Press?

The cartoon model of the Yak first appeared within the Free Press in a preview article in regards to the YAK! part on September 11, 1994. It was created by Marty Westman, the artwork director of Yak’s Nook.

The primary JAK! part then revealed within the Detroit Free Press on September 13, 1994.

Who has the YAK! invented? and the mascot?

The concept for YAK! was based on the Warehouse nightclub in Detroit’s Rivertown neighborhood, the place 26 Free Press and Detroit Newspapers staff met in November 1993 to brainstorm new concepts to achieve youthful readers, in response to a Free Press article selling the YAK! on September 11, 1994:

Every individual interviewed 4 teenagers or pre-teens about their pursuits, life and studying habits. Over two days, the brainstormers took half in creativity workout routines to translate what they realized from younger readers into merchandise that the Free Press may create.

Primarily based on these workout routines, one staff was assigned to develop a mascot for the Free Press. Throughout the twenty-minute session, Cathy Collison, coordinator of Information for Younger Readers, and Wayne Kamidoi, director of sports activities design, have been in search of an animal apart from a wolverine.

“We did not need the folks of Michigan State to get indignant,” Kamidoi recalled. “Lastly, with two minutes to go, Cathy stated, ‘How a few yak?’ We thought it was fairly neat and distinctive; There aren’t any groups known as the Yaks, so we did it. And as we found, it rhymes with just about all the things.”

Reside Yak mascot debuts

Yak, the stay mascot, was formally launched to the readers of YAK! on October 25, 1994, however there was additionally a preview of it on October 22, 1994, when a photograph of the Yak with college students from Yake Elementary in Woodhaven was revealed by the Free Press on October 21. They have been the primary kids to see the Yak after requesting an early meet and greet as a result of their college title contained the identical letters: YAK.

The stay Yak mascot usually visited colleges and public occasions in metro Detroit, often crossing paths with Detroit skilled athletes and staff mascots.

The Yak’s attain wasn’t restricted to metro Detroit, nonetheless. The Yak roamed Michigan, america and even world wide.

The Yak traveled to Michigan vacationer hotspots equivalent to Traverse Metropolis, the Mackinac Bridge and Tahquamenon Falls, taking pictures alongside the way in which. He additionally traveled to different states equivalent to Montana, Oregon and Texas. The Yak even traveled world wide to Australia, Italy and Japan to cowl the Olympic Video games.

Who wore the Yak costume?

Westman helped design the Yak costume with the corporate Costume specialists and wore it usually by means of 2009. He went to Napa Valley to supervise its development and realized find out how to wash it in a big Rubbermaid tub, since a part of his job was sustaining the costume.

The costume was fabricated from actual yak hair and took 10 minutes to placed on. according to a 2001 American Journalism Review article about the Yak.

Westman stated within the article that he would get in, plug in a battery and two followers would inflate the costume like a balloon.

“I felt actually heat,” Westman stated. “It isn’t as glamorous because it sounds.”

“It’s a heavy, clumsy, smelly and sight-impairing Yak,” he stated. “You are wanting by means of the mouth, which suggests you are really seeing your footwear.”

Westman stated he usually wore the costume when the Yak traveled for photograph shoots and that there was a rotation of 4 or 5 different individuals who would put on it for native occasions.

Westman, 64, now lives between Mount Nice and Huge Rapids and works as a bartender in retirement. He doesn’t put on the Yak swimsuit to work, having submitted it to the Free Press in 2009.

Trying again, his most memorable moments have been when the Yak went to the highest of the Mackinac Bridge and traveled someplace out of state.

“I’ve seen some actually thrilling locations,” he stated.

In line with Westman, the most effective a part of being a Yak was making kids joyful.

“I had youngsters come as much as me and say, ‘That was the most effective day of my life,’” he stated.

The worst a part of the job was that it nearly burned down in Rome. He stated he was holding an Olympic flag in entrance of the Trevi Fountain in 2005 when some kids pulled out a lighter. Thankfully, former deputy director of Picture Free Press, Rashaun Rucker, who was a photographer on the time, stopped them.

He additionally stated it was robust to put on the costume when it was 90 levels exterior.

Westman stated there have been two yak fits. The Free Press stored it with the true yak fur. One other model that was made with a teddy bear-like fur and loaned to different newspapers known as YAK!

Patricia Chargot, a Free Press workers author on the time, was additionally interviewed for the American Journalism Evaluate article. Chargot was usually the reporter who accompanied the Yak and stated it was like Mickey Mouse following you round on an task.

Within the article, she stated it was like “having an albatross round your neck.” She joked that she could not let the Yak wander round alone as a result of you would need to “defend the Yak from the keen youngsters who need to pounce on it.”

What occurred to the Yak?

On January 11, 2001, Yak’s Nook transitioned to an eight-page coloration tabloid part, showing each Thursday within the Detroit Free Press. A day by day Yak’s mini nook continued on the comics web page. Yak’s Nook was despatched to all colleges in Detroit.

Yak’s Nook went inexperienced on January 22, 2009, transferring on-line to the now defunct yakscorner.com and not showing in print.

The Yak mascot continued to seem at the very least till 2013, according to Detroit Free Press archives.

Though the Yak may very well be in comparison with Mickey Mouse, it was a special kind of mouse that led to its demise.

A former worker of Detroit Newspapers’ advertising and marketing division stated the Free Press model of the costume disappeared after mice took up residence and destroyed it on the Sterling Heights Operations Facility, the previous newspaper printing plant on Mound Street in Sterling Heights. The worker believes it has been thrown away throughout the final 5 years.

When you’ve got reminiscences or pictures with the Yak that you simply wish to share for publication, electronic mail them to twildt@freepress.com.

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