Massapequa 5-Year-Old Wins Contest to Name New Museum Mascot

GARDEN CITY, NY - The Nassau County Firefighters Museum and Education Center in Garden City recently officially named their mascot, a Dalmatian puppy on the center’s building designed by H2M architects and engineers.

Joe Mottola, H2M’s Director of Architecture and a Massapequa Volunteer Firefighter, is a board member at the museum and volunteered H2M’s services to design the exterior of the building.

The project team for the design included Project Designer Katie Stone, Structural Engineering Department Manager Mike Mckeown, Staff Engineer Berhan Gebregziabiher and Project Designer Patrick Stone.

The name of the Dalmatian was voted on in a statewide contest last November inviting children age 12 and under to submit names for the official mascot of the center, a 25-foot tall Dalmatian puppy.

The winner is 5-year-old Lilyana Rodriguez, of Massapequa, who chose the name Valiant to represent courage, an appropriate name to describe firefighters and the work they do.

Lilyana was presented with a miniature firefighter uniform by the Museum’s Executive Director, Alana Petrocelli.

The museum also hosted a celebratory party after the ceremony for Lilyana and her family, classmates and friends.

The Massapequa Volunteer Firefighters, including Joe Mottola, Pat Stone and TJ Corona attended the ceremony with their fire truck and used the 100-foot ladder to rise up to the dog and display his name on a large bone-shaped dog tag, as Lilyana revealed the name at the entrance of the museum for the news cameras and newspaper photographers as they captured the moment.

“I’m very excited to have contributed our services to the museum, the firematic services and the community,” Joe Mottola said. “Giving back to the community is of utmost importance and is furthered with this project by continuing the dream of the founders to provide a hands on opportunity to learn about fire safety for our youth and community members. Congratulations to Lilyana and her family.”

The project was initiated in order to improve the look of the outside of the building and to provide a statement piece that was highly visible to the surrounding area to attract visitors, and to introduce wayfinding signage for the museum’s entrance.

The museum wanted a “whimsical” design that was kid-friendly.

The center, which opened in June 2006, is a 10,000 square foot interactive facility where individuals and families can experience first-hand the tradition of firefighting in local communities. The new exterior was completed in October 2015.

Photo caption: Town of Hempstead Councilman Anthony D’Esposito, H2M Project Designer Katie Stone, H2M Director of Architecture/Massapequa Volunteer Firefighter Joe Mottola, H2M Project Designer/Massapequa Volunteer Firefighter Pat Stone, Massapequa Volunteer Firefighter TJ Corona, and contest winner Lilyana Rodriguez