Courtesy photo
Dr. Carolyn Creager, owner of the Berthoud Athletic Club and Physical Therapy Doctors, stands next to the 12-foot skeleton that will serve as a new mascot for Berthoud. She is seeking naming rights through the Name My Skeleton Contest, which will continue through Aug. 3.

By Shelley Widhalm
The Surveyor

The “big skeleton” in the Berthoud Athletic Club needs a new name as Berthoud’s unofficial mascot.

“It’s pretty dramatic when everybody sees it. They’re like whoa! Wow! It’s certainly for fun,” said Dr. Carolyn Creager, owner of the Berthoud Athletic Club and Physical Therapy Doctors, 247 Mountain Ave.

Creager purchased a 12-foot skeleton last Halloween to replace Chewy the dinosaur, who used to stand outside the former Abbott Glass and Door Repair west of the Berthoud roundabout.

Chewy left with his owners about two years ago, Creager said, and she figured the town needed another mascot. Chewy had served as a marketing piece for Abbott and as a tourist attraction for photos, she said.

“I thought I would have people help me name it,” said Creager, a doctor of physical therapy. “As a mascot, so far people seem pretty excited about it.”

The skeleton currently is in the aerobics room at the Berthoud Athletic Club near the rowing machine and stair stepper — the naming contest is through Physical Therapy Doctors, located inside the club.

“It fits our business,” Creager said. “We talk about our bones and muscles every day with our patients. We use skeletons all the time to show people different parts of the body.”

Creager, who purchased the skeleton from Facebook Marketplace, opened up the Name My Skeleton Contest in late June to encourage Berthoud residents and others to enter their ideas for a male or female name, though the skeleton looks to be that of a male. The contest will continue through Aug. 3.

“It is massive. It has some pretty bizarre eyes,” Creager said. “You don’t really know how tall (he) is until you stand next to him.”

Creager and her staff — she has three full-time and several part-time employees — each will pick their top five favorite names from the entries. Their picks will then be narrowed to the finalist, who will receive naming rights and $100.

“We’ll pick the one most relevant to our business, Berthoud Athletic Club and Physical Therapy Doctors,” Creager said.

So far, there are about 50 entries, and Creager is hoping for at least 100.

“There are lots of cute names. People have done a really great job,” Creager said, pointing out names like Frankespine, Abby Cadaver and Wish Bone.

Entries can be submitted at Physical Therapy Doctors’ Facebook page or by stopping in at the Berthoud Athletic Club. To enter, make a post or write down a suggested name for the skeleton and include contact information.

“I posted it on the Berthoud Community site to keep it local, but, really, anybody is welcome to participate. I didn’t want to make it too complicated,” Creager said.

The contest serves as a way to promote the Berthoud Athletic Club, which currently doesn’t have a sign during a renovation project of restructuring a wall and installing a new roof. A new sign is expected to be installed in August.

“It was something fun to let people know we’re still here,” Creager said. “We encourage people to come in and take photos with the skeleton.”

Physical Therapy Doctors are located in a 1,000-square-foot wing, which was renovated six months ago. Berthoud Athletic Club is 2,500-square-foot.

“We’re like a boutique gym,” Creager said.

Creager, a physical therapist for more than 30 years, opened Berthoud Athletic Club in 2004, bringing her physical therapy business there.

“At the time there was no gym in Berthoud, and I thought we needed one,” Creager said. “It’s a natural progression for physical therapy patients, to progress them to a gym setting.”

The gym offers memberships and day passes and includes strength training and cardio equipment, a climbing wall, personal training, massage therapy, nutrition and other classes, and workshops and training.

“People are looking for a space that’s not as bumper to bumper with people,” Creager said. “That’s why people really love it here. It’s so quiet. We are a local family-owned business.”