Bean Bootmobile makes Plum appearance

You’ve heard of the Batmobile.

Now picture a 13-foot-high, 20-foot-long, road-ready replica of a famous brand of footwear.

That’s the Bootmobile, created for the venerable outdoor-oriented company L.L.Bean, and the shoe-shaped vehicle made a recent stop at the Sampson Family YMCA in Plum.

“We are out on the road to spread joy and cheer, as we like to say,” Bootmobile driver Mandee Flanders said. “And people get so excited to see us.”

Youngsters attending the Y’s Camp Strongheart on July 21 certainly got a kick, so to speak, out of the visit. And they enjoyed playing games like boot toss and L.L.Bean trivia, choosing their own colorful Bean boot laces, and having their pictures taken with the monumental main attraction.

But the day really was about philanthropy, with a sock drive netting hundreds of the knitted garments.

“L.L.Bean graciously donated some, and the kids brought new socks in to give to the men who live at the Allegheny Y on the North Side,” Kim Black, YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh associate director of day camp, said. “We’ve taught them about giving back to others who are in need.”

Along with the other acts of generosity, L.L.Bean presented a gift card toward adding to the play equipment at the Sampson Family YMCA.

The company headquarters and home to the Bootmobiles — actually, there are three of them — is in Freeport, Maine, where Leon Leonwood Bean (1872-1967) first set up shop in 1912.

“We left Freeport to start our six-week tour on June 12, and this is our final event day of our entire tour,” Flanders said, with a single stop after Plum at Ross Park Mall before heading back north.

A resident of Watertown, N.Y., she serves as an experiential marketing specialist in addition to piloting the Bootmobile. Joining her on tour was Christina Mallas of Savannah, Ga.

“Listen, this is the best job I’ve ever had,” Mallas said. “We just do nice things for people along the way. We might pop up at an ice cream shop, pay for ice cream, give people some flowers, things like that. And it’s awesome.”

YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh runs 15 summer day camp programs in Allegheny County. For more information, visit www.pittsburghymca.org/summerdaycamp.