By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
It's a bird! It's a plane!
It's a ... squirrel?
The black squirrel, an unofficial and quasi-underground mascot for the city of Kent, will make an appearance in the sky above downtown during the annual Kent Heritage Festival on the July Fourth weekend.
But instead of borrowing a cue from the pages of legendary comic book character Superman, Kent's ever-evolving black squirrel logo is stealing a page from the DC Comics character's cousin " Batman.
Mike Pritt, a Crain Avenue resident, has done some contract work for the city by producing promotional videos for the popular Web site YouTube. A few months ago, a light bulb flickered in Pritt's mind when he pursued a new twist on the bat signal.
"Well, we don't have an official name," Pritt said, laughing. "We're just trying to develop the Kent brand and this is part of it."
A freelance television production hand, Pritt combined the image of a black squirrel made popular by the McKay Bricker Gallery T-shirts, hats and stickers emblazoned with the silhouette of a squirrel in mid-leap with one of his production lights. The result is a bat signal-like image, which can be projected onto the sides of buildings, trees and potentially low clouds.
Pritt said he wasn't sure how the squirrel signal would work before he tested it on the side of the Star of the West Milling Co. grain elevator recently.
"It worked out perfectly," Pritt said. "The image was far better than I anticipated. I thought this would be a neat thing to promote some good will ... and have an identifier for Kent."
The black squirrel image is nothing new to the city. But Pritt's interpretation is surely different.
Black squirrels are the official mascot of Kent State University's Black Squirrel Radio station. The furry animals can be bought by the dozen in cookie form at Stahl's Bakery. And the McKay Bricker Gallery stickers are a common sight on cars throughout the city.
Kent has been home to the real animals themselves, which have been a mainstay on the KSU campus and trees all over the city for nearly 50 years.
Dan Smith, Kent's economic development director, described Pritt's creation in an e-mail as the "black squirrel beacon." He said the city would like to use it as a marketing tool and a fun aspect for community members.
"We're looking for new and unique ways to promote the city of Kent," Smith said.
For Pritt, who paid for the expense of creating the light pattern himself, he's hopeful the image will become a beacon for encouraging community involvement.
"We're trying to build a community here and have everybody join in and do that," Pritt said. "It's just one of the quirky sorts of things about the community."