Benton debuts new mascot, Ben

BENTON — The aim of Benton's new official mascot, Ben, is twofold: bring a smile to people's faces and economic development to the Saline County city he represents.

Mayor David Mattingly introduced Ben at a news conference Thursday morning before taking the oversized inflatable icon around the city to visit spots including the Boys & Girls Club and the Senior Adult Center.

Ben — brought to life by a volunteer inside the battery-powered costume — is a pudgy businessman with a balding head, a comically large nose, huge cartoon eyes and a wide grin. He sports his name on front, and the city's logo and "You belong here" slogan on back.

Ideally, Ben will help market the city's new initiative to encourage more businesses to locate there, Mattingly said, noting that those efforts have been increasingly successful in recent months.

"We've got great schools, we've got affordable homes, we've got a lot going for us," he said after Ben's last stop Thursday, a visit to the senior center where the mascot danced with one woman while a band played Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues."

"But in a sense of economic development, attracting business was where my bigger concern was ... An identity that's different than what others are not doing. That's how you get the attention. Then you can talk business. And that's what we're doing."

Mattingly said his staff tossed around ideas and worked together to design Ben, who was then created by an outside firm at a cost of about $2,500.

That's a small price to pay if Ben can help sell Benton's economic development mission, attracting businesses to the area, the mayor said. He noted the city's previous efforts have helped attract new apartments to the city and new stores including a Kroger Marketplace and Academy Sports. Work is beginning, too, on a new Riverside Park and community center at the former airport site.

Ben will appear at community and business events, Mattingly said — beginning with one Saturday at the future park site — in a bid to keep that momentum going.

"That's where we are, and it's starting to take roots and show results," he said. "If we can continue to raise our economy and our base from business, sales tax goes up. If sales tax goes up, we don't have to worry about more taxes on our people. We've turned a corner, I think, and we've got a lot going on."

Dustin Parsons, a fifth-grade teacher at Bauxite Elementary School, played Ben on Thursday and will continue to do so as he's available.

Parsons, who said he's "very eccentric anyway" and didn't think twice when asked whether he'd don the costume, said he believes Ben is a good move for the city.

"You can't help but love him," Parsons said. "The way he's shaped, the way he's designed and everything like that. He's just very catchy. All day today the kids just smiled, people smiled — you can't help but put a smile on your face. And that's kind of what they want with the city of Benton. When you think of Benton, you want to think of the good times and the good places to go from there."