When my son was in high school, he was active in the drama group. Being his mom, I was active in the parents group that was associated with that. The big fundraiser for the group, other than the shows that they did, was something called a flamingo flocking. You can check it out on Google but basically a flock of plastic flamingos show up on your lawn for 24 hours and then go away. A friend (or an enemy) pays for this to happen. It had been done with great fun for several years. (Before my son had even hit high school, I flocked my high school English teacher who was about to retire.) Unfortunately his first year was 2020 so that didn’t happen to the COVID.
In 2021 I became the co-president of parent organization and the task of flocking fell to me. Because we had been out of service for so long I decided to flock all of the schools with all the principals’ permission to announce the spring musical which was later that year than it ever been before again due to COVID. Also because of COVID, the production was to be held in an outdoor venue, not at the high school, which was unusual. We used the flock to announce the production. But flocking was back and it was fun!
His junior year flocking became more intense. We had people making special requests for birthdays and other occasions. It was work and fun to make it happen. As leader of the flock, I would often leave a little message in shock if it was a special occasion to try and make it even more special.
His senior and final year was a real big one. I had more volunteers than I ever did before. Which was wonderful. We had more orders than we’d ever had before, which meant more money for senior scholarships. Wonderful.
It was also therapeutic for me. I was going through a tough time with my dad getting ready to go on hospice. The distraction and zaniness that the flamingos brought to me was priceless. To have such a great team supporting the project made me smile and brighten my days.
And then about a week into the flocking process one of my parent helpers, a flocker, mentioned that his family’s lawn had never been flocked. Immediately, I got it into my mind that we as a crazy group needed to do something about that. So I secretly put together a group that did not include this family and said here’s what I want to do. I would like for one day one flamingo to show up on their lawn. The next day two. The next day three or four and so on. You don’t say you’ve never been flocked on my watch.
That’s how it started. However what I didn’t know is two of the parents on my flocking team were even crazier than I was and came up with their own very special ideas. Pretty soon the lawn became the talk of the town. And if you look at the pictures you can see why.
Group texts were wild. He would never know what was going to show up on their front lawn. It got crazier and crazier every single day. And again it was the talk of the town and definitely brought light and laughter to all who saw it especially me!
But my son graduated, along with that family’s eldest daughter, and that was that. I passed the presidential baton on to another mom and all of the leftover flamingos that lived in my garage for three years were moved to a new garage. Ironically it was the garage and the parent who had claimed that they had never been flocked. They would never say that again.
That was that. Right? Only it wasn’t.
I may no longer be part of the group but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still think of them or go to the group’s shows. So when it came time to start flocking this spring I got a bright idea.
That same family’s younger daughter would graduate this year. She, like her elder sister, was also very active in the drama group. I could do one more wild flocking. There was just one problem. The family had become so involved in the group that now they were in charge of the flocking process. How could I get around that?
Simple, I went to the new president of the organization and explained that I would like to donate quite a bit of money to have this family flocked again but they couldn’t know about it. The new president was quick to say that she would get her special team on it and they would never know. What did I want?
What I wanted was to flock them every other day of the two-week event. I wanted the flock to arrive and then I wanted it to disappear, only to come back again a day later. Then to disappear again only to return in a different configuration or a different number of flamingos. It would be a perfect way to celebrate this family and their dedication to the organization and their youngest daughter who would be graduating. Bonus, it would be fun for me as well. I have said before in previous blog posts that this time of year is becoming very difficult for me. I knew this would bring some lightness into my life.
But what I didn’t know or what I wasn’t sure of was that the same two men who went hog wild last year were still on the flocking team. And when they heard that I wanted something special, something a little unusual, they got to work and this is what happened.
Yes, once again it got out of control. And I couldn’t be happier. It brought joy to my soul every time I walked by and I’m sure I’m not alone.
Thanks to creative and crazy flockers, these past two weeks have been more tolerable. And that family’s lawn? It gives new meaning to pretty in pink.
Oh…and somewhere along the way, I got flocked too.
Beth Shorten is a lifelong resident of Verona from a long line of lifelong residents of Verona. Beth blogs regularly at Bfth’s Boring Blog.
