There’s a new mascot in town, and her name is Deputy Sheriff Justice.
The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office unveiled the bandana, chaps, and cowboy hat–wearing character ahead of this year’s Thanksgiving festivities, where she waved and cheered to the crowd. A mascot…for law enforcement?
Justice is just the latest in a surprisingly sizable lineup of characters repping Philly’s local government agencies.
No doubt this is a mascot city. Gov. Josh Shapiro even tapped our big league sports mascots to lead the I-95 reopening celebration. While they’re nowhere near as well-known as Gritty or the Phanatic, Philadelphia government mascots are numerous. They range from cute to clever to cheesy to kind of ridiculous.
We’ve rounded up a few, both past and present, below. We’ll let you decide which category each belongs to.
Sheriff’s Office: Deputy Sheriff Justice
Justice — a “newly recruited deputy sheriff” — loves children, reading, and learning, and has the goal of building a “better, safer Philadelphia,” per office spokesperson Teresa Lundy.
“She dislikes bullying and always engages children to respect one another, resolve their issues peacefully, and always be courteous,” Lundy said. “She fights to break down barriers of prejudice and encourages positive interactions amongst children and law enforcement.”
Justice, a cartoonish looking human, wears clothes reminiscent of a stereotypical Wild West sheriff, from the bright yellow bandana around her neck to the five-pointed stars on her hat and vest.
The community outreach team and staff at the Sheriff’s Office came up with the idea in 2021, according to Lundy. Staff later voted on what the mascot should be and what it should be named.
She debuted at this year’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — chosen because it was a “a familial event where Justice could interact and take pictures with children, along the parade route, in a fun, cheerful, and loving environment,” Lundy said.
The plan is for Justice to show up at future community outreach events geared toward children. Per Lundy, Sheriff Rochelle Bilal and her team have visited “over 100 schools in the Philadelphia area” during Bilal’s tenure to work on self-esteem building, bullying prevention, building respect for law enforcement, encouraging nonviolent conflict resolution, and “address[ing] the dangers of guns.”
Fire Department: Gentry the Fire Dog
An anthropomorphized dog dressed in firefighting gear, the mascot shares a name with the Philadelphia Fire Department’s first accelerant-detecting canine — an actual pooch who joined the department in the early 1990s to help investigate arsons.
It’s a good guess they were both named after Waldo Gentry, a firefighter who helped integrate the PFD and was the last living member of the segregated department before his death in 2019.
The Gentry character is modeled after Sparky the Fire Dog, the National Fire Protection Association mascot, according to PFD comms director Rachel Cunningham.
Gentry frequently appeared at public events until March 2020 when COVID hit, per Cunningham. Since then, the mascot’s appearances have been scaled back.
SEPTA: Paws
Paws has appeared alongside PFD mascot Gentry to promote fire safety awareness. The floppy-eared, fuzzy brown covered, overalls-wearing dog has been a SEPTA mascot since 1999.
Technically, he’s just SEPTA’s safety mascot. The transit agency doesn’t have an official, overarching representative. It tried asking locals for suggestions back in 2018, but that request got taken just as seriously as you might expect.
His inspirations include “Clifford, Lassie, and Balto — in no particular order,” along with SEPTA employees. He’s apparently a fan of Wawa cheesesteaks. Judge that as you will.
Parks & Rec: Phred the Panda
The Department of Parks and Recreation doesn’t have a mascot as of right now, but once upon a time, it did.
That time came to an end in 2016, per Parks & Rec spokesperson Andrew Alter. At that point, “Phred the Panda” had been the department’s mascot for 20 or so years. “Their birthday is unclear,” Alter said. He didn’t specify why the mascot has been retired.
Newspaper references date at least back to 1989. The department had apparently solicited name ideas from Philadelphians for its new panda mascot and received hundreds of suggestions.
The five finalists, put up for a vote via “official ballots” at rec centers, were “Candu (for Can Do), Handy Panda, Pandu, Pandy, and Phred (for Philadelphia Recreation Department),” per the Inquirer.
“Phred” won out. The mascot has been pictured interacting with kids at the Broad Street Run, typing away at a desk at 1515 Arch St. in the middle of the night, and dancing in the former JFK Plaza. The panda appeared at events like PPR’s “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.”
The Inquirer noted in 1990 that the process for booking Phred was actually quite bureaucratic.
In addition to agreeing to conditions where the mascot could thrive — 20-minute appearances only, keeping a refrigerator with a freezer on site, and the like — events organizers needed to get approval from the “General Supervisor in charge of Cultural and Special Events” to book Phred. Requests had to be delivered to the “Panda Program Directors” at least two weeks before the planned event, which had to have an anticipated headcount of at least 100.
Water Department: Water Woman
The superhero repping the Philadelphia Water Department isn’t a crime fighter, but rather, a grime fighter.
“Water Woman” is played by Maura Jarvis, an actual PWD employee who works in engagement and communications. When in mascot mode, she dons a white skirt and sparkly purple eye makeup, to go with a blue blouse, tights, headband, and cape.
The character encourages Philadephians to help reduce pollution in the city’s waterways by doing things like spreading awareness about the safety of local tap water and discouraging disposable water bottle use.
Department of Streets: Curby Bucket and Sun Ray
The Philadelphia Streets Department has not one, but two mascots.
The happy-go-lucky trash can character “Curby Bucket” has been around since the 1990s, tasked with promoting recycling awareness. There was at least a little overlap between Curby and Litterbug, the Streets Department anti-littering mascot that dated back to the 50s.
Although Litterbug has long been retired, Curby does often have a buddy appearing alongside him: “Sun Ray,” the mascot of the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee.
Both mascots are still “very much active,” per Streets Department spokesperson Keisha McCarty-Skelton. They last appeared at the department’s America Recycles Day event in mid-November.
Board of Ethics: Ethel the Ethics Seal
It’s unclear what an “unofficial” or “semi-official” mascot is, but that’s apparently what Ethel is for the city’s Board of Ethics.
Appearing to be a knitted or crocheted seal plushie, Ethel the Seal somewhat regularly raises awareness of the city’s ethics policies on social media like Instagram and Twitter/X.
She even has a blog with some informal advice, which seems to have been started in 2020, but hasn’t been updated since last year.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to note that the fire department’s mascot Gentry has actually appeared at a few public events since COVID.
