Plans called for a $6 million family aquatics center, featuring two large slides, two drop slides, a water playground and a lazy river. For serious swimmers, it would offer six 25-meter lap lanes. A new bathhouse, dance pavilion, concession stand and sand play area were to complete the project.

But we faced another challenge: How could we keep people interested throughout a cold winter and spring about an aquatics center that they wouldn’t even be able to use till nearly summer 2002?

First, the Parks and Recreation Department decided to make the community part of the excitement by asking residents to name the facility. The local newspaper covered the contest as a front-page story. The people chose “Kokomo Beach.”

The contest brought publicity at the beginning of construction, both on radio and in the newspaper. We announced the winning name at a City Council meeting, garnering more free press along with the first smiling, happy bunch to visit the council chambers in a long time.

We also decided that the aquatics center needed a mascot, a symbol we could use to promote the pool.

The birthday boy
Old Ben turned 100 this year.

Old Ben holds the record as the world’s largest steer. He was born north of the city in 1902 and died in 1910. At his death, he weighed 4,700 pounds and measured 16 feet 2 inches long. During his life, he appeared at carnivals and festivals. People would pay just to look at this enormous creature. After his death, he was stuffed and put on display in the Kokomo Park system. He currently “resides” in a special, glass-enclosed house in our largest park, often visited by children on field trips.

During WW II, servicemen from the Kokomo area were stationed in the South Pacific and they engaged in a debate with Texans at their base. Just who could claim bragging rights to the biggest cattle? The servicemen contacted the Kokomo Tribune. The newspaper sent a now-famous photo featuring Old Ben with a young woman, arms spread, demonstrating his size in comparison to hers. Ben’s dimensions were printed on the reverse side.

More than 2,000 postcards of this photo were sent to men around the world during the war. The focus, however, did not land on the bull. Most wanted to know: Who was the woman? (She was 20-year-old Phyllis Hartzell, who ended up receiving countless letters from soldiers worldwide).

Way to surf, dude!
When we chose Old Ben as our mascot, we had no idea what would happen next. The new facility opened in June. Old Ben’s 100th birthday was in May and this turned out to be a great opportunity to market our aquatics center. A local radio station invited us to discuss Ben’s big day and our new waterpark as well.

The local papers addressed Ben’s birthday and connected it to the soon-to-open aquatics center. We even had a visit from the CBS show Sunday Morning in regard to Old Ben as a local tourist attraction. Again, the aquatics center got some free publicity.

We still had a challenge. How do you turn the local celebrity — not to mention, a dead one — into a mascot for your waterpark?

We asked a local artist to create a young, energetic Ben in swim trunks on a surfboard. Her results were wonderful. We decided that this image should be more than ad copy. So we sent drawings of our (new) Old Ben to 4,000 local schoolchildren. Then we conducted a coloring contest. This was easy, simple work to get our name in front of 4,000 youngsters and their families.

The four winners were the first to use the aquatics center. The first-place winner was the first down our large tube slide. Second place slid into our oasis down the body slide. The third and fourth winners raced down the high-energy slides.

An Old Ben mascot (with swim trunks) patrols our park. The Old Ben drawing is trademarked, and we use it on everything from letterheads to T-shirts. There are even Beanie Babies of this Kokomo icon.

The city reveled in the opening day of the aquatics center. Old Ben and Kokomo Beach will be making history this summer.