With the temperatures of the past few days you prefer to sit in the shade or cool down in the water. What you don’t want is a very very warm suit. That is why many holiday parks in Drenthe choose to give the mascots a day off. Harry de Hond from Camping De Hondsrug in Eext shows itself.
“It’s warm, but it’s great fun to do,” says animation coordinator Jeffrey Sanders. He can go into the suit today. He does that shorter than on a cooler day. “We try to limit it and I’m going to do my best to dance a little less fanatically,” laughs Sanders.
Together with his team, Sanders entertains the youngest visitors to the campsite with craft activities, games and pancake afternoons. Occasionally Mascotte Harry de Dog, in a thick, soft cuddle suit with giant dog head, comes to the activities.
“With these temperatures it is actually degrading.” To keep the work pleasant, Sanders goes into the suit for a maximum of fifteen minutes and leaves part of the activities that the park organizes for children for what it is. “It’s just too hot.”
Other holiday parks choose not to use the mascot with these temperatures at all. For example, Holiday Park Hart van Drenthe in Zwiggelte says they will not send their mascot Huug de Hooglander on the road.
Park Molecaten Karierpad in Wezeperbrug also chooses for this. “With us it is very simple. The suit does not turn on above thirty degrees,” says park manager Dennis van der Laan. The mascot suits of Caatje and Molly stay in the cupboard these days. “That is the protocol and applies to all our parks. If it is 25 degrees, people are in the suit for a maximum of fifteen minutes.”
In addition, there is an extra employee next to the mascot. “To check how things are going. We have agreed special characters for that. But also to help as too many children climb on the mascot.”
In the end, Sanders is in Harry de Hond’s suit for nine minutes. “At a certain point I was finished. You also have to think about yourself. I thought it would not be too bad, but it is really hot.”
Harry de Hond stays inside for the rest of the day, in the shade. And Sanders? He doesn’t take dive in the pool. “But I’m going to take a nice shower.”