So long, Frozen John: a moose with attitude is coming for the job of Fort St. John's official mascot

A hockey-jersey wearing moose is set to put the elf on the shelf in the battle to be the official mascot of Fort St. John, B.C.

Frozen Johnan elf who wears a blue tuque, green mittsand a bright orange jacket has represented Fort St. John for decades, but now the city is looking for a fresh face forthe job.

City communications manager Julie Rogers said that when she moved to Fort St. John, she didn't quite understand why an elf was the face of one of B.C.'s youngest and fastest-growing cities.

"We don't actually have elves here," she said.

"Let's look at what we do have here and what best represents Fort St. John. We are redneck, quad-driving, truck-driving environmentalists ... the elf doesn't really sum that up."

Over the summer, the city set up a feedback form to get a sense of who or what they thought could capture the spirit of Fort St. John. With over 300 surveys completed, the top five choices werea moose (45.6 per cent), a fox (14.8 per cent), a deer (9.7 per cent), lightning bolt (sevenper cent) and sunshine (4.5 per cent).

Other suggestions included a bear, a beaver and a pothole, while seven people voted to keep Frozen John.

'Don't moose with me'

The city also asked for feedback on what the new mascot should wear, and top choices were a tuque, a hockey jersey, sunglasses and coveralls.

Other general suggestions includedhaving a female orgender neutral mascot, the addition of a catch phrase ("don't moose with me") and that the costume include "a little redneck flair."

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Rogers said the city will now send the survey results to a mascot designer to try and capture as many suggestions as possible.

ShouldFrozen John step down, he will join Victoria's anthropomorphicfecesMr. Floatieand the Chilliwack Chiefs "inappropriate" hockey mascotin being put out of a job this year.

However, Rogers said there is talk of keeping John around, either as the new mascot's sidekick or as a seasonalrepresentative of the city's annual High on Ice winter festival.

"We're still tossing around ideas," she said. "Perhaps he'd like to move to Florida."