No more dress-up for Smokey Bear statue in International Falls

With Halloween just around the corner, there is one prominent resident of International Falls who won't be in costume.

The northern Minnesota city has decreed that residents may no longer dress up the 26-foot-tall statue of Smokey Bear that has stood in downtown since 1954.

For decades, dressing up Smokey has been a local tradition. The statue often has sported clothing reflecting seasons or special events. In the winter, Smokey might be turned out in a checkered lumberjack shirt, holding a pair of ice skates in mittened paws and wearing earmuffs the size of dinner platters. During fishing season, Smokey often wore a fishing vest that could double as a good-sized tent.

But now all that has gone up in smoke. The City Council last week voted 4-0 to limit Smokey's attire to his working gear: jeans, belt, ranger hat and shovel — no shirt.

Smokey's fashion makeover didn't happen overnight. City leaders spoke to several other Minnesota cities to find out how they handled their large, iconic statues, Mayor Harley Droba said. And what they discovered was that Bemidji didn't play dress-up with Paul Bunyan. Neither did Blue Earth with the Jolly Green Giant, nor Alexandria with Big Ole the Viking.

"They thought it was kind of crazy that we did decorate our stuff," Droba said.

Council members also decided that Smokey delivers a serious message about fire safety and thus should be taken seriously. Council Member Mike Holden acknowledged that dressing the bear has been fun for the community.

"I was kind of caught in the middle of this one, because I used to decorate the bear," Holden said. "Kind of enjoyed it, really." But having had a father who worked for more than 35 years with the state forestry service, Holden said, he came down on the side of respect for Smokey's mission of promoting fire safety. Smokey's unadorned appearance, the council said, would be in the spirit of the guidelines laid down by the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which mandates that Smokey be portrayed as "a dignified, firm and friendly symbol of wildfire prevention."

With the city having recently spent $30,000 to refurbish the statue, council members said it was a good time to make the move.

"We need to have a standard for Smokey the Bear, and that's where we're at," Droba said.

John Reinan • 612-673-7402