Not currently on display at the V&A

Howdy

Olympic Mascot
1984 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Hidy and Howdy are twin polar bears designed by Sheila Scott in 1984. They were the official mascots of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games, chosen to represent Canadian hospitality. Their names and colourful outfits were meant to be typical of Western Canadian culture.

The first official Olympic mascot was a Dachshund called Waldi who appeared at Munich in 1972, but Hidy and Howdy marked the first attempt to have both male and female versions, designed to appeal to children. Travelling in their personal motor home, a rota of 140 high school students performed as the mascots for public appearances, and the pair appeared on a wide range of merchandise including lapel pins, embroidered banners and as the plush toys seen here.
The appearance and use of Hidy and Howdy was carefully managed by the Calgary Organising Committee and the Community Relations Department, who licensed the production of plush bears to Hasbro Canada Inc.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleHowdy (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
plush, stuffed, printed cotton, sewn, printed
Brief description
Plush polar bear toy 'Howdy', Offical mascot of 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic games. Wearing red, blue and white Western-style hat and waistcoat printed with Games logo. Designed by Sheila Scott, 1984.
Physical description
White plush toy with brown muzzle and nose, and pink mouth. Brown, black and white plastic eyes and embroidered eyebrows. Paws are printed with black pads. Clothes, sewn onto the bear, are a white stetson-stye hat with red band, red neckerchief, blue waistcoat printed with with white stitching and yellow button, with Calgary '88 emblem printed in grey.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26cm
  • Arm span width: 20cm
  • When sitting depth: 13cm
Content description
Logo of Calgary 1988 winter Olympic Games and the Olympic Rings.
Production typeMass produced
Historical context
Sold as official merchandise. The pair of mascots, Hidy and Howdy, appeared on a range of products, as life-size mascots, and on the signage in Calgary.
Associations
Summary
Hidy and Howdy are twin polar bears designed by Sheila Scott in 1984. They were the official mascots of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games, chosen to represent Canadian hospitality. Their names and colourful outfits were meant to be typical of Western Canadian culture.

The first official Olympic mascot was a Dachshund called Waldi who appeared at Munich in 1972, but Hidy and Howdy marked the first attempt to have both male and female versions, designed to appeal to children. Travelling in their personal motor home, a rota of 140 high school students performed as the mascots for public appearances, and the pair appeared on a wide range of merchandise including lapel pins, embroidered banners and as the plush toys seen here.
The appearance and use of Hidy and Howdy was carefully managed by the Calgary Organising Committee and the Community Relations Department, who licensed the production of plush bears to Hasbro Canada Inc.
Bibliographic reference
1988 Calgary Olympics Official Report, IOC
Collection
Accession number
B.135-2011

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Record createdFebruary 6, 2012
Record URL
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