WHAT THE HECK IS YOUR LOGO?

Back in 1992 when Esprit first started, we had a logo of a little raft as all we offered was rafting. As our programs grew, we changed our logo to a square divided into four quadrants each with their own “microscopic” symbol in each. Needless to say that version two, aptly referred to as the “hieroglyphic,” didn’t last for very long. We soon realized that finding a logo that everyone could relate to and that represented the different programs we ran as well as our “spirit of adventure” was a more difficult task than we had first contemplated.

Then our founder decided, “If we can’t find something everyone else can relate to, we should at least have something that we can relate to”. Thus, our quest to find a “water spirit” to represent Esprit began. Mishi (meaning great or giant) and peschu (meaning cat) is one of the most significant mythical creatures for the Anishanaabe and Algonquin people. It was said that before crossing a challenging and dangerous section of water that it was best to placate the Mishipeshu with tobacco and copper to avoid them lifting up their spiked dragon’s back and toppling over your cargo (obviously we need to leave more “offerings” as our cargo sometimes is tipped over).