Nearly 50 Pokémon trainers — ranging from children to seniors — walked through downtown Juneau Saturday in the city’s first ever PokéMob.
The group of Pokémon Go players meandered from the State Library Archives Museum to the Mt. Roberts Tram and back, catching Pokémon along the way.
“I caught an Eevee!” somebody shouted excitedly from the crowd only to be immediately outdone by another mob member who proudly proclaimed he had just captured a Squirtle, a fan favorite.
The Downtown Business Association’s Marketing Committee, which organized the well-attended event, came up with the idea for the PokéMob only a couple days before Saturday, according to Dana Herndon, communications specialist for the Juneau Economic Development Council.
“We hardly had any time to promote it, so I’m pretty pleased with the result,” she said as a couple boys in front of her debated the merits of Magikarp.
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The goal of the event was to draw people to downtown to participate in an urban hike, Herndon said. She serves as the JEDC’s liaison to the DBA and explained that both groups want to revitalize Juneau’s downtown core, and if Pokémon can help achieve that goal, all the better.
“It was kind of the perfect tool to use to get people out and about and walking downtown,” she said. “We want to drive the idea that downtown is a fun place to be.”
Nicole Jensen and Drew Gardner don’t need any convincing. Jensen dressed up as her favorite Pokémon, Jolteon, for the walk and said that she and Gardner, who donned a Pokémon baseball cap, go to the SLAM frequently to catch new Pokémon.
Though the mall is their go-to spot for catching new Pokémon and restocking on items such as Pokéballs, Jensen and Gardner said they’ve been making their way downtown more frequently since the Pokémon Go app came out earlier this month.
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Pat Race, co-owner of Alaska Robotics, came up with the idea for the PokéMob and led the walk through downtown. Wearing a Pikachu cap and a yellow shirt to support Team Instinct, one of three color-coded teams Pokémon Go players must choose, Race said that Pokémon Go is already accomplishing Herndon’s goal.
“I was at the bar last night and people were complaining because they said the game has made ‘zombie people,’ but I thinks it’s great. Downtown businesses try to bring people downtown. They try, and they try, and they try but look at this,” he said, pointing to the growing crowd gathering by the Nimbus sculpture before the walk started.
•Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or at sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.
