Mr. PG logs 60 years as Prince George's beloved mascot

Sure, he could think about early retirement now that he's 60, but the giant, gangly lumberjack mascot for Prince George, B.C., isn't showing any signs of sitting down on the job.

Mr. PG made his debut at the Rotary International Conference in downtown Prince George in 1960. At the time, he was two and a half metres tall, made of hand-carved wood. 

Since then there have been several iterations of the mascot. A city employee turned Mr. PG into a parade float, and he cheerfully travelled to civic celebrations throughout the province. 

And now, he welcomes visitors to the city at the intersection of highways 16 and 97 with his big smile, round nose and wooden posture.

Mr. PG was trademarked in 1985, and now community groups have to get special permission from the City of Prince George to use him for marketing and events. In fact, the city encourages it. 

"It's such a great depiction of Prince George, that we don't take ourselves too seriously," Rob van Adrichem, director of external relations for the City of Prince George, told Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk. 

"How many things these days can you say are just fun with the community? Some things can get so serious and at the end of the day, Mr. PG is just all about authenticity and having some fun."

Van Adrichem has been hard at work planning a celebration for May. A three-day event will feature food trucks, scavenger hunts and photo ops. An exhibit at the city's Exploration Place museum, which has been up since July, will showcase the history of Mr. PG. 

Working even harder than van Adrichem, has been his mother and her knitting group; they've been busy knitting special Mr. PG scarves. 

"My mom likes to say it takes her less than an hour to make a scarf, and her club there's about a dozen of them," van Adrichem said. "I think they've made almost a hundred of them now."