On August 9, 2024, Smokey Bear officially turns 80 years old. The iconic image of a black bear in blue jeans and a forest ranger hat, familiar to generations of school children, was introduced in 1944 by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters and the Ad Council.
The image and his famous mantra, “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires,” which debuted in 1947, made Smokey the longest running and most successful advertising campaign in the country.
In Appleton City, children, parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents will be celebrating Smokey’s 80th birthday at a party at the Summer Reading Hour at Trinity United Methodist Church on Monday, July 29. The Summer Reading Hour draws children ages 2 to 15, but all ages are invited to the party.
There will be cake, and Smokey himself, courtesy of the Missouri Conservation Department, will be there to blow out the candles — but not 80 of them.
“The candles will be numerals, and eight and a zero,” said Karidi Hazell, who started the Summer Reading Hour. “I am going to do a big vanilla cake, and also make chocolate cupcakes.”
The top of the cake will be decorated with bear figurines in a forest setting, she said, the decorations donated by True Value, she said, and the cupcakes will have a paw print on them.
Karidi said she chose the theme of the Summer Reading Hour after she heard about the Smokey Bear Reading Challenge of the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S.Department of Agriculture. The program awards certificates for completing the challenge and taking the Smokey Bear Pledge, and badges for learning about campfire safety, science and nature related to forests, animals and fire prevention.
But Karidi said she had an ulterior motive.
“The whole reason I’m doing this is that I’ve always wanted to meet Smokey,” she joked.
The guest of honor in the Smokey suit will not be as large as a black bear, and much smaller than the 51-foot-tall Smokey Bear balloon that floated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade last November. The Appleton City Summer Reading Hour also started celebrating the birthday early, with stories and activities related to forest ecosystems, plants and animals when the sessions started in July.
Last Monday, a program on fire safety was held by Appleton City Fire Chief Bryan Wade and Assistant Chief Brandon Snodgrass, who visited the church parking lot with the department’s brush truck and the pumper truck. Chief Wade talked to the children about the importance of changing smoke alarm batteries twice a year, having a designated safe spot outside if a fire breaks out in your houses, and that you should never, ever, go back into a burning house to retrieve items.
“They can be replaced,” he said. “You can’t.”
Chief Wade also talked about how to prevent brush fires, explaining that the brush truck doesn’t carry much water, but carries leaf blowers because they can be used to put out a grass fire by blowing the fire away from the fuel. Then Brandon hooked up the fire hose to the pumper truck, and the children took turns holding the nozzle and sending a spray of water into the street.
The July 29 birthday party starts at 11 a.m. and will include games, including musical chairs to the “Smokey the Bear” song, written in 1952 by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, who composed “Peter Cottontail” and “Frosty the Snowman.” Rollins added “the” to Smokey’s name to make a phrase that fit the chorus better.
Also in 1952, Congress passed the Smokey Bear Act, trademarking the character for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which uses the proceeds from the sale of merchandise for fire prevention programs. The Summer Reading Program birthday party for Smokey will have activity tables set up for children with related arts and crafts.
“We’re also going to incorporate Woodsy Owl,” Karidi said of the “Give a hoot, don’t pollute” character.
The children might have been drawing pictures of Bambi, Flower and Thumper. Walt Disney loaned use of the cartoon characters from the movie for one year to the forest-fire prevention campaign, but campaign executives lobbied for their own animal symbol. Albert Staehle created the first image of a bear dressed like a forest ranger, pouring water on a campfire, and dubbed him Smokey.
The children in the Reading Program said they had heard of Smokey, who makes regular appearances at their schools for forest-fire prevention programs.
In honor of the milestone birthday, the Ozark Natural and Culture Resource Center in Salem, Mo., south of Rolla, hosted an exhibit of 19 reproductions of paintings created by illustrator Rudy Wendelin for the Smokey Bear advertising campaign between 1977 and 1995. The exhibit, hosted by the Mark Twain National Forest Salem Ranger District, was on display June 17 through July 12 in Salem.
Appleton City’s Summer Reading Hour runs on Mondays through July at 11 a.m., and this year, focused on learning about forest ecosystems, plants and endangered animals through stories and activities. The Little Reading Hour will continue August through May for younger children, Karidi said. She is assisted by Lindy Porter, the former children’s librarian at Appleton City Public Library. Individuals and businesses in Appleton City donate material for crafts, Karidi said. The Reading Hour also has an Amazon Wish List of books that people can go to and buy a book for the program.
“The reason we are doing this is because it’s what we wished we had as kids,” Karidi said.
Karidi now works for a senior services agency, but she and Lindy volunteer their time to lead the reading hours. During the two and half years Karidi was the librarian at the AC Public Library, she and Lindy built up the children’s reading program until they had a group of regulars. The regulars now come to the Summer Reading Hour, filling two rooms next to the Fellowship Hall of Trinity United Methodist Church.
“We feel it’s so important to keep their interest in reading going,” Karidi said.
The church is located at 601 S. 3rd St., on the corner of 3rd and Locust, one block south of Hwy. 52, which is also the main street (4th) through Appleton City, MO.
