Pink Flamingos

You’ve seen them – or maybe even have one in your front yard – plastic pink flamingos...

I’ll tell you where they came from, in a minute…Payoff:Nothing says “wow” quite like a pair of plastic pink flamingos in the front yard. If you’re wondering who to blame – his name is Don Featherstone. He used to work for the plastics company Union Products – and he designed the first pink flamingos lawn ornaments in 1957.

Hippies rebelled against the pink plastic perch of their parents in the 60’s, which sent the flamingos into hiding with lawn jockeys for a while. By 1970, the plastic pink flamingo was nearly extinct. Their population picked up a little in 1972 thanks to the release of the John Water’s movie Pink Flamingos.

By the 1980’s the flamingos were back on their feet. In 87 the governor of Massachusetts proclaimed the pink flamingo “an essential contribution to American folk art.” There’s even a Society for the Preservation of Pink Lawn Flamingos.

Source: Don Feathersotone, author of "The Original Pink Flamingos - Splendor on the Grass"