Local Artist Creates Viral Halloween Monster Sign, Dentonites Name the New Mascot Onion.
- communications5244
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
As the official “Halloween Capital of Texas” you obviously need to have a sign celebrate the fact. New to the Denton square this Halloween is a sign with the Halloween mascot, Onion.
Originally staff was going to hang decorative holiday banner, but David Baker, in-house Creative Specialist and local artist, decided to throw a more unique idea on the table.
David Baker stated that "The original ask was to create a long vinyl wrap for the wall where the old Mini Mall was. However, I was inspired by the interactivity of other Halloween. After lots of sketching and research I landed on a concept that had a monster hanging over the wall and pulling the sign up and into its mouth. Not only was this a interactive concept, but it was also way cheaper to produce and has much more longevity than a vinyl wrap."
Following the installation of the sign, a post was made on Facebook and Instagram asking locals to name our purple monster. As with most public naming opportunities, locals flooded the comments with their name ideas. Among some of the top choices were Not Ned (Denton spelled backwards), Mini Maul, and Denny. However, the top name by a significant margin, in true Denton fashion, was Onion.
According to David "the name Onion, for whatever reason, did not make it to our final naming poll. Our social media team got so many messages begging for the name Onion that we gave in. It's been so fun to see the public engaging with the instillation"
Some residents have even gone so far as to leave red onions as offerings to Onion. Be careful, because he likes to climb the wall and take as bite of out the sign periodically. Staff have to continuously repair it.
Special thanks to:
Craig Arrington and Ryan Moyer - The Parks employees who oversaw the production of the Onion sign.
Lisa Buchanan and Jacqui Bode - The volunteers who helped paint many of the Halloween decorations along with some of the Onion Sign. You can watch the volunteer highlight here!
For more information about Denton Halloween, schedule of events and a map of placemaking space go to HOME | Denton Halloween.