Even if they weren't awesome, the athletes from
Blooming Prairie (Minn.) would still have a mascot name that could be classified as awesome.
But they are awesome, and have been for quite some time.
Photo courtesy of teen.com
They are the Awesome Blossoms in this southern Minnesota town, and have been since the late 1960's. Before then, almost for 60 years, they were just the Blossoms, certainly still a unique name and one that was coined by a newspaper writer in Austin, a nearby town.
A young man named Tom Ressler (Class of 1969) drew a mean-looking face and made the blossom a little more muscular, and called it an Awesome Blossom. The rhyming stuck, and despite some grumbling and maybe even desires to change the mascot name, it's firmly established that they have been and will continue to be Awesome Blossoms.
That wasn't the case for another Awesome Blossom. Up until around 2008 or 2009, Chili's restaurants sold the Awesome Blossom appetizer, which was an onion that was battered and deep fried, served with a dipping sauce. It may have been popular with some customers, but with a calorie count of around 3,000 and a decree by "Men's Health" declaring it the Worst Appetizer in America, it has gone extinct.
It may just be a flower with a legs, arms and a scowl, but to the people of Blooming Prairie, it's a part of their identity. And a majority must feel it's awesome to be Awesome Blossoms, because the mascot name doesn't appear to be going anywhere.
