Berlin Store Launches Alpaca Naming Contest

Berlin Store Launches Alpaca Naming Contest
Berlin Store

BERLIN – What would you name an alpaca?

It’s a question everyone is invited to consider as Inca Ruins in Berlin hosts a naming contest for its new mascot, a handmade, life-size alpaca that sits outside the shop. The fluffy, six-foot-tall figure is quickly becoming a celebrity in downtown Berlin.

“People are always taking pictures with it,” said Cesar Raygada, who opened Inca Ruins with Ken Briggs last fall. “We wanted a mascot and people love alpacas. It’s the perfect thing.”

The alpaca is a particularly apt mascot for Inca Ruins as the shop primarily sells arts and crafts from Peru, Raygada’s native country known for its alpacas. Raygada said the instant popularity of Inca Ruins’ small stuffed alpacas made from real alpaca fleece inspired him to approach “the ladies” in his grandmother’s town who made them to see what else they could do. By Christmas, the shop had added stuffed teddy bears, monkeys and ponies made from alpaca fleece to its inventory.

It was then Raygada remembered the life-size fleece alpacas he’d seen in religious ceremonies and parades in Peru. He decided to see if he could get one for the store, saying, “They do it for fairs and stuff like that so I thought it’s not a crazy idea.”

He was right. Not only did the alpaca crafters in Peru agree to do it, they said it wasn’t even the first one they’d made. The only tricky part was getting it to Berlin.

“It came in pieces,” Raygada said. “The people from the post office, they know us, they said we have a weird box for you. It was one big box with four leg-sized boxes taped to it.”

With just a little guidance from their connections in Peru, Raygada and Briggs were able to assemble their new mascot, which needed a name.

“We thought we could do a naming contest like they do at the zoo,” Raygada said.

They’re now soliciting suggestions via Facebook and in the store. On July 4, the favorite name will be selected. The winner will receive an alpaca-themed prize package full of items from the store, which sells everything from alpaca fleece rugs and slippers to fair trade coffee.