Don't Move Firewood offers a lot of free goods and services to anyone doing education or outreach about the hazards of spreading pests on firewood. We give away tens of thousands of our materials each year, create dozens of custom posters for various state and local entities, and serve as a focal point for the efforts of many campaigns that need a centralized and accurate website to anchor their outreach messaging. But their is one thing we do that is almost free, very effective at reaching the public, and really funny- and that's our costume share program.
Through the last five years, we've needed to acquire two bug costumes (emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle) and a costume that looks like a piece of firewood for our use in making educational videos. And during the mid-summer months, we use those costumes at our own outreach events, like farmers markets and music festivals. But the rest of the year, instead of being ensconced in mothballs, those costumes are available to anyone that asks- for nearly free. We merely ask that anyone that wants it for an outreach event must cover the cost of shipping and insurance. So where do our costumes go from September to May? And what do they do?
Parades in New York and Thunder Bay, Canada. Landscaping Expos in Massachusetts and Colorado. Campground fireside chats in New Hampshire. This fall, our EAB costume is already booked for the World Championship of Little League in PA- especially appropriate because of the threat to ash trees and baseball bats.
We share our costumes because we are constantly trying to think of the best (and most cost effective) way to share every aspect of our campaign across all of North America. Do you have a need for an emerald ash borer costume? Asian longhorned beetle costume? Or our very funny firewood costume? Email us at info@dontmovefirewood.org, and describe your dates needed, costume preference, and what event(s) it would be for, and we'll see if it is available. Resources as quirky and cool as bug costumes are meant to be shared.