Friday at the Nature Research Center
The North Carolina Forest Service is throwing a birthday party for Smokey Bear and everyone is invited. Watch a video on Smokey Bear in the Daily Planet Theater, meet Smokey Bear, sign a giant birthday card, and take part in other fun activities.
On Friday, August 9, 2019, starting at 11am, join the fun in the Daily Planet Theater, located in the NC Museum of Natural Science’s Nature Research Center, 121 W Jones Street, Raleigh, NC.
Smokey Bear was “born” on August 9, 1944, when the US Forest Service and the Ad Council agreed that a fictional bear named Smokey would be the symbol for their joint effort to promote forest fire prevention.
Artist Albert Staehle was asked to paint the first poster of Smokey Bear. It depicted a bear pouring a bucket of water on a campfire and saying, “Care will prevent 9 out of 10 fires.”
Smokey Bear soon became popular as his image appeared on a variety of forest fire prevention materials. In 1947, his slogan became the familiar, “Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires!”
Source: Heather Overton, North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Additional Reading
Old article by Albert Staehle’s wife, Marjory.
Information about the real-life bear cub named Smokey.
Did You Know?
According to the US Forest Service, there are only two US Postal Service ZIP CODES in the country not associated with a business.
Each US president is assigned a ZIP code for his or her personal use while in the White House. But those ZIP codes are kept secret except for a few choice people.
The other lucky ZIP code belongs to Smokey Bear, who received so many letters in the 1960s that the US Postal Service gave him 20252. And the US Forest Services doesn’t keep it a secret.
Smokey Bear
Washington, DC 20252
