Baby Wooly Mammoth's Name is Tara

(L) Yoshi, Emily, Garret & Bryan Van Oyen, Bob Irvine, Director Barb Ribey and Christy Van Oyen surround 'Tara'

Seven-year-old Christy Van Oyen's name will go down in the history of the Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre.

From thousands of entries to name the Museum's baby wooly mammoth, Van Oyen's suggestion was recently drawn.  The baby will forever be known as 'Tara'.  While Tara may not seem to be a name that is very different in Bruce County, the circumstances surrounding it are.

The Museum has been home to an actual wooly mammoth tooth that was discovered in the small community of Tara in Bruce County.  When the 'Wild and Wooly Mammoths' exhibit came to the Museum last year, local resident Bob Irvine, was asked to construct a baby wooly mammoth to complement the display.  Irvine spent hundreds of hours painstakingly ensuring that every detail of the baby mammoth was accurate.

While the mammoth had a temporary name of Coco, because of its dark chocolate coloured fur, the Museum decided that a naming competition would be held, so that everyone could have a part in finding the perfect name.  The mammoth was taken to the recent International Plowing Match (IPM) held in Teeswater where, while on display, thousands of people entered the naming competition.

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13/01/2009 04:24 PM

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Creator Bob Irvine, Christy Van Oyen, Tara and Museum Director, Barb Ribey

From the entries, a single name was randomly drawn and that name was, Tara.

The Van Oyens live between Mildmay and Neustadt, nowhere near the town of Tara and, when asked how she arrived at the name, Christy said, "I don't know.  I just liked the sound of it."  Her mother, Yoshi, added, "We were just at the Plowing Match and visiting the Bruce County exhibit.  I didn't even know she had filled out an entry and put it in the box."

"Imagine our surprise when the name was pulled out of the box," said the Museum's Executive Director, Barb Ribey.  "It was absolutely perfect."

As the Museum's Marketing Director, Mini Jacques, added,  "It's strange, but some things are just meant to be."