SAVANNA, Ill. — Every day there's something new happening at one Savanna business. There's always lots of sewing, gluing and shaping foam at Facemakers. The company is responsible for making hundreds of mascot costumes each year.
"It's like arts and crafts for adults, basically," employee Shelby Balk said.
Facemakers began in 1972 in Chicago. Two students at the Chicago Institute of Art were hired to dress up in frog costumes to promote the horror movie, "Frogs," according to general manager Nancy Willis.
"They thought all the frog heads were ugly that they could find and they didn't want to wear them," Willis said. "So they decided to make their own."
When their two-week job came to an end, she said they tried to sell the costume.
"They found a local costume shop who was willing to buy it and like what they did and asked them to make more," Willis said, "and that's how Facemakers was born."
Four years later, founder Alan St. George moved the company west to Savanna. In 1980, Facemakers made the first major mascot of the Summer Olympic Games: Misha Bear.
The company has made thousands of mascots for schools, along with Chicago's Benny the Bull mascot, the Keebler elf, Dalmatians for Happy Joe's and in the Quad Cities, the Sexton Ford bear. The mascot creations have also appeared on Disney Channel shows, a Fast and Furious movie and several Adam Sandler movies. The White House has even been a client. This week, they're working on bee costumes for Applebee's.
"One of them was an orange kangaroo, which was really strange," Willis said. "It was Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in the movie. I remember seeing it in the background and thinking it was really odd, but it's fun."
Since 1987, Facemakers' most famous mascot creation is Smokey Bear. With this year being Smokey Bear's 80th birthday, Willis is anticipating lots of new orders. They typically make anywhere between 50 and 100 every year.
"Up until this year, there were four companies that were licensed to make Smokey Bear," she said. "Over the course of COVID, three of them went out of business, so now we are the only licensed Smokey Bear manufacturer. So our business in Smokies has increased dramatically."
Balk grew up in Thomson and never knew how big of a business Facemakers was.
"Growing up I knew little about it," she said. "I thought they made mascots for Disneyworld or something ... Seeing how many mascots we send to almost everywhere, it's crazy. I didn't expect it."
The mascots cost anywhere from $1,700 to $12,000, depending on how detailed they are. Some already have patterns built for them, while something like a company's logo would require Facemakers to design a new pattern. Next week, Willis will be designing a lobster.
Right now, Facemakers is sending out about five to seven mascots a week, but that's on the lower average. During busy times, they could be making three to five a day.