ATHABASCA — There is a potential mascot for Athabasca whose tale has rarely been told waiting to be introduced to the public at the Alice B. Donahue Library and Archives.
Basky is a short children’s book written by local Dorothy Lane and illustrated by Maureen Harvey that was printed in 2000 and former mayor Lionel Cherniwchan thinks there may have been a motion approved to adopt Basky, the little black bear cub, as the town's mascot.
“Not this council and not the one before,” he said. “But I’m sure the council before that adopted Basky as the mascot, or at least talked about it.”
CAO Rachel Ramey however said not to her knowledge.
The book is available at the library and in the archives is the “real” Basky, a teddy bear made to go along with the book.
“I really think Basky should be adopted as the mascot,” said Cherniwchan. “It would be great to promote tourism.”
And children of all ages can relate to the little bear who wants to make friends:
‘“May I go and play with them?” I asked my Mom.
‘“Bears don’t play with children,” she said.
Poor little Basky had to watch from the trees as the children frolicked and played.
Then there was the day he was playing on a hill.
‘All of a sudden I wen Ker-Splash into Muskeg Creek.’
‘It was in a flood and flowing very fast. I couldn’t swim very well.’
‘I yelled, “Maw! Maw!"'
‘I was scared.’
‘My Mom came running down the hill. She caught me just when I was going to go under the bridge over the creek.’
Lane, who passed away in 2016 at 97 years old, was a teacher for 30 years and wrote two children's books including Basky.
Whether Basky ever becomes the town mascot or not, it’s a cute story and extra copies are available at the library.
