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Hartford Yard Goats Unveil Mascots Chompers and Chew Chew

The team held a mascot-naming contest, and decided to choose two winners.

The Hartford Yard Goats unveiled the team's mascots on Friday, bright green and blue furry goats called Chompers and Chew Chew. 

The announcement was made at Capital Prep Magnet School, which is next to the site of the new Dunkin Donuts Park under construction. 

"Hartford’s been such a great city that we needed not one, but two primary mascots," said Tim Restall, the team's general manager.

The team opted for both a girl and a boy mascot after it held a contest in July to name a mascot. Over 4,000 names were submitted.

"Chompers was chosen by Lauren Konefal, age ten, of Middlefield, Connecticut, and Chew Chew was chosen by Jeffrey Boyle, age ten, of Farmington," Restall said. "Lauren and Jeffrey each won a pair of Hartford Yard Goats season tickets."

What was the inspiration for the names? "It looks like the goat was chomping on the bat, so that's why I thought of it," Konefal told CPTV Sports about her choice, Chompers.

"I actually came up with Chew Chew because goats like to chew stuff, and the goat was chewing the bat, and a yard goat's a train, and trains go, choo-choo," Boyle told CPTV Sports.

Restall had the crowd of students cheering during the announcement. "Go goats!" he urged everyone to shout. "Are you ready? One, two, three, go goats!"

Credit Frankie Graziano / CPTV Sports
/
CPTV Sports
Chompers and Chew Chew with mascot-naming contest winners Lauren Konefal and Jeffrey Boyle and several other area mascots.

From the team's press release:

Chompers is a large male green furry goat character with blue horns, flared nostrils and bright smile showing off his sparkling white chompers and full "Goat-ee." Chompers is wearing a plaid shirt along with blue shoes to fit his incredibly big feet.
Chew Chew is a female blue furry goat with green horns, flared nostrils, "Goat-ee" and bright smile showing off her beautiful white teeth. Chew Chew's mouth is outlined with pink lip stick and she is wearing a white dress with green and blue polka dots along with white ruffled bloomers and a pair of green shoes. She is also sporting a stylish bow in her hair.

The Yard Goats' season is scheduled to begin on April 7, 2016.

Sarah Flaherty contributed to this report.

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