Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers' new mascot, is a lot of things to a lot of people.
For one huge fan of the orange-and-black, the hockey monster offered a stroke of inspiration. Valerie Sherk, of Horsham, Montgomery County, had been planning her son's Halloween party and had costumes on the brain.
What if, Sherk wondered, she made a Gritty baby costume?
She messaged her best friend Elizabeth Musselman with the idea. Elizabeth has a four-month-old son, Connor; what if Sherk made Connor a costume inspired by Philly's newest monster?
Sherk grabbed a glue gun and a baby hoodie and got to work.
“A lot of orange yarn, a couple hot glue burns and 3 hours later,” she says, the costume was finished -- complete with googly eyes, an abundance of fur, and tiny black ice skates.
There are pictures of Connor, looking appropriately grit-filled (and uncomfortably warm… Saturday was a hot day, so he wasn’t thrilled about the costume), on Sherk’s Twitter. “We have to get him to a Flyers game,” she adds, so he can meet Gritty in person.
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The Flyers mascot has inspired a lot of creations in the past few weeks, including protest banners, tattoos, and even a new local beer. But this is the first time he’s managed to swing an entire costume.
Sherk says she’s been crafting and making stuff her whole life, but this is her favorite project so far.
“We love Gritty,” she says. “We think he’s the best mascot of all time.”
