Cosmo the Cougar will be making a trip to Lehi High School to play in the Mascot Bowl charity event Monday, Sept 28 at 5 p.m.
For the past 12 years, Lehi High has partnered with the Utah Jazz to hold the Mascot Bowl as an effort to raise charity funds for Fireman and Friends for Kids and Bear Hugs. The event is designed to give Lehi marketing students a chance to bring Christmas to underprivileged children throughout the state.
The fundraiser features a friendly game between college and professional mascots and the eighth-grade Lehi football team. Some of the mascots include “Bear” and “Lil’ Bear” (Utah Jazz), “Bumble” (Salt Lake Bees), “Burnie” (Miami Heat), “Rocky” (Denver Nuggets), “Miles” (Denver Broncos), “Rowdy (Dallas Cowboys), “Swoop” (University of Utah), and of course, Cosmo (BYU).
“It’s so much fun to be able to play with fellow professional and collegiate-level mascots,” Cosmo said In a BYU interview. “Its not that often that you get to play on the same team as your friends. It invites a great spirit of unity under a good cause.”
BYU’s Cosmo has been a part of the charity event ever since its inception back in 2004.
“We want to show the community that BYU cares, and supports local causes,” Cosmo said.
The Mascot Bowl is almost completely student driven.
“(The students) run all of the games, do all of the marketing, write all of the press releases, and bring on the sponsorships each year,” said Becky White, Lehi High School Sports Marketing Director and founder of the charity.
Kasee Parkinson, an Exercise Science major at BYU and former Lehi marketing student has returned to help out in the fundraising efforts.
“During the Christmas season, we used those funds and took poor children on a little shopping spree.” Parkinson said. “We let the kids buy anything they wanted. Even then, they asked for things like coats and socks, things they could share with their siblings.”
Aside from the game, other featured entertainments include performances by the America First Jazz Dancers, Utah Jazz Stunt team, Utah Jazz Dunk team, Lehi High School cheer teams, and “Nashville Star” country singer Charley Jenkins. Aaron Lesue, a professional arena football player, will also attempt to break a world record by catching a football dropped from 400 feet onto the high school field.
The entertainment aspect of the event has attracted a lot of public attention and continues to grow in popularity.
“Last year, we had about 4,500 to 5,000 people attend the fundraiser,” White said. Lehi is an amazing community that rallies around its high school. When our marketing team decided to work with the Jazz Bear on this project, they were immediately ready to support it.”
Tickets for the event are $3 per person (two and under are free) and can be purchased in advance at the high school finance office or at the gate Monday night.
