Kevin Pittman and his Forest Friends

This past Saturday, Orville the Ornithomimus braved the freezing cold to participate in Children's Healthcare's annual Mascot Trot, part of their Strong Legs Run fundraiser event. With winds up to 22 MPH and a wind chill around 25°F, it was quite an unusual experience, but Orville made the best of it.

With the coldest weather I've ever seen for the race, many of the normal entertainment activities didn't or couldn't happen, but Orville and the other nineteen mascots did their best to make up for that. And what a bunch: everything from the KSU Owl and Freddie Falcon to Spiderman to Priscilla the Pig to the Coke Polar Bear to two (yes, two) Elmos! Oh, and I can't forget a special shout-out to Orville's good friend, Wally the Lion! All things considered, it was a great day with plenty of photo ops and lots of hugs, even if no one seemed to be able to correctly pronounce Orville's species (it sounds like this: Orn-ith-oh-meye-mus.)

Kevin Pittman and his Forest Friends hopes to participate again next year (it will be our tenth year at the event), but we're not sure yet who will be going. More to come on that in 2015 as we get a little closer to the event.