Abner Doubleday has to defend his championship.

There are mascot rivals gunning for the accolades of children as the best, the most fun, the most amusing mascot in the area.

The trials that Abner and his rivals will go through are all in fun, but that's no reason to not take them seriously when the number of contestants are lined up 10 deep for the mascot competition at the Youth Fair and Boy Scout Show this Saturday.

Baseball-oriented Abner may be the most iconic of locally rooted mascots, but he's got some well-loved competitors. The Easter Bunny will surely be a favorite with his impending delivery of Easter eggs and sweets next month. For all the roller-skating fiends, there will be a partiality for smooth-hopping Reva Rollerdrome's Rollerroo. Little Caesar Man might get a boost because he has the hookup with childhood's favorite meal: pizza.

A little fear factor might help some athletic competitors steal the title from Abner. Crunch representing the Syracuse Crunch Hockey Club and the Union Springs High School Wolfie bring a fierceness to the competition.

And local rivals like Liberty Tax Service's Lady Liberty and the Kiwanis International's Derby Duck mascot have a shot because of their familiar faces, respectively, during the tax season and the annual spring race of ducks down the Owasco outlet.

All these mascots face a trial of three games. They and their pick of a child dance partner must be the best disco dancers. They must be the most winsome in a mummy costume made right there on the spot. For the third game, they need to have excellent hand-eye coordination to succeed in tossing fish into a net.

“It's really funny to see them up there kind of bumbling around,” said Annette Abedelaziz, an employee with the Cayuga County Health and Human Services Department's Reduce Adolescent Pregnancy program and the main organizer of the fair.

It's both a playful and community-minded time at the youth fair. The Youth Fair does have a serious side to it.

More than 30 agencies will be on hand with information about youth activities like summer camps and clubs and information for parents about important issues to think about for their children. Each agency will have a game for kids to play, so the entertainment will continue all afternoon long.

Liberty Tax Service will donate $20 to the Youth Fair Fund and give a $20 discount to anyone who signs up at the Youth Fair to do their taxes with the Genesee Street business.

“It started as a way for human services agencies to kind of get the word out,” Abedalziz said. “None of us have advertising budgets. None of us have the time or money to do promotions.”

The Youth Fair, organized by the county's Child and Family Task Force, is eight years old this year.

The younger tradition of the Youth Fair has been long paired with the Boy Scouts' older tradition of its annual Cub Scouts pine derby and Boy Scout Show every other year.

Cub Scouts will race their carved cars in rounds until an ultimate champion is determined. Older Scouts will demonstrate their Eagle Scout projects and do demos of the types of typical Boy Scout activities like setting up tents and building of bird feeders, said Shirley Vella, the officer manager for the Cayuga County Council, Boy Scouts of America.

“It lets the community see what kids are involved in,” Vella said. “It's definitely a very kid-oriented event out there at the mall.”

If you go

What: Youth Fair and Boy Scout Show

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday;

mascot

competition

1 p.m.

Where: Fingerlakes Mall, Route 5 and 20, Aurelius

Cost: Free

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net