The Banzkow potato mouse from Stein has been welcoming guests from near and far on the village square since 2000. On special occasions in the village life the mouse is dressed in an original way. It stands in the middle of several typical erratic blocks, which bear the medals won in state, national and European competitions.
For the 700th anniversary of the community of Banzkow in 2000, the potato mouse was "born" as a permanent mascot. Today it exists as a small souvenir, as a large wooden mouse from a Lewi oak tree in the district of Mirow, as a stone mouse on the Banzkow village square and as a living original with an identity card as resident no. 2235. The stone mouse is composed of granite stones that "migrated" from Finland to this area during the Ice Age 1.89 billion years ago. The individual parts of the body have been found in this way and therefore have hardly been worked. The public baptism of the stone mouse with sturgeon water took place in 2005, and on this occasion a schoolgirl wrote "The Tale of the Potato Mouse", which was printed with schoolchildren's drawings from a competition. The living potato mouse is present at all the highlights of the community and in the office. She is also very popular and in demand as an ambassador for the region in her rustic, mobile, thatched cottage. She has already been to over 20 countries in Europe and to many trade fairs to promote Lewitz and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In 2014, for example, she visited all the sister cities of the State capital Schwerin, the partner regions of the state of MV and the partner community of Banzkow during a trip around the Baltic Sea. This trip served not only to revitalize the partnership relations and tourism, but above all to promote the idea of friendship in Europe. The information board next to the stone mouse provides information about worthwhile excursion destinations in and around Banzkow, as well as in the entire Lewitz landscape conservation area.
