Campaign to book UCLA mascot in Fiesta Days Parade claims success

The mighty Bruins will march on to victory after a successful campaign by local fans and alumni to have the UCLA mascot featured in the Fiesta Days parade this year, remedying what they saw as an imbalance of representation with the USC mascot, Tommy Trojan, having walked in the parade the last two years.

Joe Bruin and his female counterpart, Josephine Bruin, will walk in this year’s parade, Fiesta Days Parade Committee member Caroline Craven confirmed Thursday.

Craven, who is a UCLA fan, started a casual Facebook campaign two weeks ago to see if enough interest and money could be raised to book the mascot.

“It took lots of community support, but they faced up to the challenge, so we’re happy,” Craven said.

While she did not have an exact figure for how much was raised to book the mascot, “more than enough people came forward,” she said.

“It’s great to see both schools have such a strong community here,” she added.