Getting our Smokey on.

Since I was a child, I have always loved Smokey the Bear.  As an adult, I guess its just the fact that the imagery brings back a lot of good childhood memories of visiting the National Parks and Forests.

Smokey Bear is America's wildfire prevention icon. Smokey has educated generations of Americans about their role in preventing human-caused wildfires.  Smokey was created in 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign is the longest running public service advertising campaign in U.S. History.
 

The Upcountry History Museum in Greenville SC is currently hosting a traveling exhibit named Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl: "Home Sweet Home". The exhibit will here June thru Sept. 2013.

 

 

 

We knew we would visit the exhibit before it left town, and with this past Saturday being so rainy, we decided to go.

 

 We were looking for the vintage posters.  The poster exhibit was located upstairs, and there were quite a few on display.

 

The first posters on display were rectangular.  This type of ad was used on trains and buses.

 

 

Then the exhibit continued with the more familiar shaped posters.

Original posters from the 1940s on were on display.

 

 

There were about 25 vintage posters on display with history to go along of each of them.

 

 

 According to the Ad Council, Smokey the Bear, and his messages, are recognized by 95% of adults and 77% of children in the United States, that is pretty amazing.

 

To this day,  the majority of the places we go to hike, these threat warning signs like the one below, are still a familiar sight.

 

 

 

Downstairs, the exhibit was geared toward the kiddos, with interactive displays and small ranger stations.  Pretty cool indeed.

 

 

 

Smokey himself even made an appearance.

 

 

On a side note, Smokey has recently had a makeover.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/business/media/new-smokey-bear-gives-hugs-not-just-warnings.html?_r=0