Goldy the G.O.A.T. celebrates birthday at Hall of Fame with kids
CANTON − The Pro Football Hall of Fame hosted what may have been the greatest mascot birthday party in Canton of all time.
Hundreds of children and their parents got to mingle, dance, hug and get pictures with nine of the area's beloved mascots, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame's mascot Goldy the G.O.A.T. (or Greatest of All Time) who was celebrating his birthday Saturday.
In addition to getting their faces painted and getting balloons and slices of birthday cake, the kids were thrilled to meet Goldy, a dark brown goat mascot who wore a long-sleeved Pro Football Hall of Fame shirt and a tie that said, "It's my B-day."
"The Pro Football Hall of Fame is ecstatic to see the enthusiasm from the public and Goldy’s mascot friends coming to the Hall to help makes this birthday celebration extra special," Hall of Fame spokesman Rich Desrosiers said in a prepared statement.
More:Get to know Stark's famous mascots
How old is Goldy the G.O.A.T?
As to how old Goldy is, the age-less goat did not say. But his bio says he came from the same farm as football legend Jim Thorpe. The Pro Football Hall of Fame introduced Goldy the G.O.A.T. as its new mascot in June 2019.
About 20 minutes after the party started, the DJ, DJ Krooze, also known as Fallon Schwab-Davis, introduced the all-star mascot lineup as they entered the tent, energizing the children who approached them to give them high fives. The mascots were:
FeLeap, the Stark Parks frog mascot, who had his own 20th birthday party in 2017.
Two of the mascots for the Akron RubberDucks, the minor league baseball team. Orbit the Space Cat and Webster the duck who became the RubberDucks' mascot in 2014.
Pigskin, Visit Canton's pig mascot since 1986, who's described as Goldy's bestie and was eager Saturday to show off his dance moves.
Flash the Golden Eagle, the mascot for Kent State University since 1994.
Zippy, the University of Akron's kangaroo mascot. The school has had a kangaroo as a mascot since 1953.
Jay Bee, Jackson High School's polar bear mascot. The polar bear has been the school's mascot since 1960. Jay Bee was accompanied by a woman wearing a purple shirt that said "Mama Bear."
Bearemy, Build-a-Bear Workshop's bear mascot, who was born in 1998.
Fire Marshal Hydro, the Canton Fire Department's dog mascot, fully clad in his firefighter suit with hard hat.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready to meet the birthday boy?" asked DJ Krooze, as several children blew their noise makers and the theme music from "Rocky" played. "Drum roll. Drum roll please on the table."
Goldy motioned outside the tent as if he were playing drums.
"Ladies and gentlemen. The one. The only. The greatest of all time! The Pro Football Hall of Fame's mascot ... Goldy!" said DJ Krooze, as Goldy entered the tent and shook children's outstretched hands and gave high fives.
At Krooze's direction, the kids shouted, "Happy birthday!"
One little girl handed Goldy a birthday card and got a picture with him.
He opened the card, read the message, clutched it to his chest and extended out his arms with joy.
Goldy gave the girl another hug.
Another girl he hugged was so excited, she began jumping up and down.
Later, DJ Krooze called the mascots to dance together and do the Cha Cha Slide with the kids.
After the kids sang "Happy birthday," they were served slices of birthday cake decorated with an image of Goldy on plates with a picture of a football and the word "Touchdown!"
'She said if I don't get to go to Goldy's birthday party, I'm going to cry.'
The family-friendly event also featured a food truck, Stark County Library District's bookmobile, a contingent of Ohio National guardsmen with a Humvee and light medium tactical vehicle, Canton firefighters with a firetruck, Canton police officers and Stark County sheriff's deputies. By the tent, kids played in a bouncy happy birthday castle.
One of the deputies tossed a football with a child on the field as the mascots walked around tapping people on the shoulder and waving hello. At one point, Orbit the Space Cat went into the bookmobile to pose for pictures with books. By the bookmobile, Cynthia Boley, Stark County District Library specialist made Goldy headbands out of brown construction paper for the kids to wear.
"It was awesome," said Carla Duffie of Canton who was accompanying her 3-year-old grandson Jaxson and her 19-year-old daughter Alaina Duffie. "This is so fun, and we need more stuff like this in Canton. ... It was free entertainment for the kids. They're seeing all the characters. They get a birthday cake. ... and (Jaxson) loves the characters."
Carla Duffie said she got a picture of her grandson sitting in the Canton fire truck.
Carla Duffie said Alaina Duffie came more than three hours from the University of Dayton where she's a sophomore to attend Goldy's birthday party.
"She said if I don't get to go to Goldy's birthday party, I'm going to cry," said Carla Duffie.
"I pet him. It was good," Jaxson said about meeting Goldy.
Rachel Yoder of Louisville arrived with her two daughters, Perry, 5, and Lennon, 7, a couple of minutes later.
They were able to catch Goldy coming out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame after he took a break.
"That's the goat! It's his birthday," Yoder said. "This is fantastic. This is a really great idea. ... (This event) was something fun to do on a fall day."
Jenna Smith, an intervention specialist at Worley Elementary, attended the event with her 4-year-old daughter Gabriella and her 2-year-old niece Scarlett Clay.
"I think it's a great way to get the community together," said Smith. "Something free for the family and kids to do."
She said the girls loved getting the Goldy paper headbands, getting their faces painted and getting high fives and hugs from Goldy and his mascot friends.
Tiana Steele of Canton, who accompanied her 2-year-old son Dion, said, "I liked it. It's a good event for kids. ... It's a wonderful thing for people to do with their kids."
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Pro Football Hall of Fame Mascot Goldy hosts birthday party
