Mascot Hall of Fame courted for new physical location
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Almost three months after closing its doors in Whiting, the Mascot Hall of Fame is looking for a new physical location, and it has received interest from sites in and out of Indiana, according to our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana.
The hall started—and continues today—as an online hall of fame, and founder David Raymond said early conversations have begun with several potential locations.
The Mascot Hall of Fame and Interactive Children’s Museum opened in Whiting in April 2019. The building closed permanently in September to make way for BP, which operates a massive oil refinery in the city, to move forward with plans for a multimillion-dollar redevelopment project at the site.
Mayor Steve Spebar told Inside INdiana Business in July that the hall of fame has been operating at a deficit since it opened in 2019, costing the city about $500,000 in taxpayer dollars each year. He said closing the facility was simply a business decision.
But, Raymond told The Times that he has received multiple pitches from locations in Indiana, his hometown of Philadelphia, and sites on the East Coast.
Fair Oaks Farms in Jasper County has expressed interest in locating the hall of fame near its property. The NCAA Hall of Champions has also reached out with a pitch to possible incorporate a Collegiate Mascot Hall of Fame in its museum in downtown Indianapolis, according to the publication.
Raymond, the original Philadelphia Phanatic, said there has also been interest to put the hall of fame in his hometown.
However, Raymond said the conversations he’s had have been preliminary, and he is in no rush to open a new location. He noted that there would have to be interest from public and private partners to make it happen.
“We want partners who understand it’s beautiful for a community, will market it nationally and not just leave it to wither on the vine,” he told The Times. “It could work in a city or environment that has a lot of visitors. It needs to be done with the correct partner with financial wherewithal and the understanding the sustainability is not reached right away and will reinvest in it every year. It’s a nonprofit museum. Attendance is important but it’s something to make the community better. We want someone who understands that it’s a community asset that can be sustained, can raise money for it and can keep it open.”
