BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Minn. (WCCO) – Blooming Prairie is not a town with an identity crisis.

In the Gopher Conference, you’ve got to be tough. Blooming Prairie sports teams are surrounded by fearsome creatures such as Panthers, Tigers, Buccaneers and Bulldogs.

But Blooming Prairie’s mascot strikes fear into the heart of any who oppose.

“If you talk to anybody who graduated from Blooming Prairie, they’re not at all shy about saying they’re a Blossom,” Lemar Nelson said.

That’s right. You heard him. They are the Blossoms of Blooming Prairie.

“The Blossom has been around my whole life,” John Worke said. “We’ve always been the Blossoms and it was changed to Awesome Blossoms, which may sounds a little tougher.”

The Blossoms didn’t get awesome until a few decades ago when an art student came up with this design, but they’ve been blooming since the early 1900s.

“The Austin newspaper always used to refer to the games as playing the boys from Blossom,” Nelson said. “And I think that’s where it started.”

Nelson might as well be the unofficial historian of the Awesome Blossom. He’s been in Blooming Prairie for 55 years and still writes for the town paper.

These days, Blossom pride is flourishing.

Glancing around Sportstitch on Main Street, you can find the Blossom on everything from sweatshirts to baby bibs and shower sandals.