Update: This uploader now closed. Come back every Friday to see what we upload next! I know this is kind of silly — but this blog is kind of silly — but in this weekend’s uploader, let’s see your pink flamingos out in their summer habitats. Above: A reader photo submitted Saturday — we now have 66 photos. The original Don Featherstone pink flamingo lawn ornaments are my favorites. I have mine propped in the front yard, in the shrubbery that surrounds our front patio, so that we can see them every single day from the kitchen window above the sink. –>
Upload photos of your pink flamingo lawn ornaments below… Tips:
- (1) Uploader DOES work but the message you get on screen *may be* funky and confusing. Upload ONCE and trust the image is there — I just need to “set new photos free” from my control panel and will be checking throughout the weekend to do so.
- (2) Terms of Use apply – read ‘em, please.
Tips to view slide show: Click on first image… it will enlarge and you can also read my captions… move forward or back via arrows below the photo… you can start or stop at any image:
P.S. You don’t know about Don Featherstone, designer of the original pink flamingo lawn ornaments? Read all about it here.
Oh fun! I bought my pair (from the site hosted by the original creator) when we closed on the house last year and they were in the yard before we were in the house. I’ll snap some pics and upload later on!
Well, I uploaded a pic – will be interesting to see if I did it right!
Not a huge fan of flamingos in my yard, but on a related note wondered if there’s any history to the evolution of deer statues in yards. I’m in an area where no real deer roam, and yet I see quite a few on the lawns of 50′s-’60s homes. I’m wondering if there’s a best in authenticity, or just how they came to popularity. Not the same as gnomes, who should be in borders, not right out there on the lawn.
I’m definately ready to order mine (the authentic ones) now that my patio is poured and I will be linking to Pamazon to add to the RR fund:)
Jason… I found mine at our local Ace Hardware store!
This post is ridiculous and JUST what I needed. Thanks.
I love Spike the watchflamingo!! He has a very nice garden to attend to
I am inspired to get some flamingos. I’m sure my husband will thank you all.
Thanks Pam, What a hoot,you made my day. I’m afraid my kitcsh factor only goes as far as a silver gazing ball in the corner of the back yard. Of course if I was ever gifted with a pair I would feel compelled to display them. I wouldn’t want to offend the gift giver. Right?
Hi Pam,
I grew up in Leominster, MA and worked at Union Products where the pink flamingo was invented. This was in 1993/94 toward the end of the plastic industry there. Imagine working 40 hours a week, standing next to a conveyor belt with hundreds and hundreds of flamingos coming down the line at you. I held a black magic permanent marker to color the black part of the eyes of all those damn birds as fast as humanly possibly. Ugh! It was madness! It was just like Lucille Ball with the chocolates. You couldn’t go to the bathroom unless a “super” happened to be walking by to take your place on the line. Sometimes I was at the beginning of the line where the birds would come from the molding dept. on a string like a clothes-line. I’d put them in a big sheet metal cage and heat the plastic by hand with a blow torch, then send them down to the next person on another “clothes line” to have the beaks painted. We froze all winter and broiled in the summer in the big brick factories from the 1870′s. I earned $196.74 for a 40/hr work week (in 1994). No sick days, no vacation, no retirement, no health insurance…but we did get a frozen turkey at Thanksgiving. And if you didn’t want the frozen turkey, they cut you a check for five dollars! I’ll never forget my time there.
Robin, thank you for the “real” story behind the pink flamingos we love. It’s people like you that made this country strong by working your butts off, and fed our silliness gene at the same time!
I don;t have any pink flamingos, but I do have a story. In 1992 we acquired a used RV and headed for Alaska with our two moms. Imagine that! We got out to Washington state where we hopped on the Alaska Marine Ferry. It is part of Alaska’s Highway system and travels up the Inside Passage where there are no connecting roads. It stops in Ketchikan, Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Haines and Skagway. The bigger cruise ships can’t get into some of those ports.
At one point in the trip, as the ferry navigated a narrow water passage, the captain announced over the intercom that we should all go to the port side to see something unusual. He proceeded to tell a story about these rare birds that had blown in on a freak storm one winter, and we were going to get to see these birds as we went around the island up ahead.
So, we all stood there and waited expectantly. The ship rounded the difficult corner and the captain exclaimed, “There they are! See, in that tree straight ahead!” The tree was loaded with at least 50 pink lawn flamingos. We all looked at each other, realizing we had been fooled. Then the captain put the cherry on top. It seems the winter was so cold the birds all froze in that tree, and they have not thawed out yet.
I figured the captain needed all the passenger weight on the port side to help navigating that corner for some reason, so there is another use for pink lawn flamingos.
What a wonderful story!
Flamingos go fishing…
Flamingos at Halloween….
The rare Featherstone Basset Hound…
Please stop, my sides are hurting. What a hoot.
Great subject for uploads, Pam! I laughed so much at the Flamingos at Halloween pic that were ghosts I had tears. Sheesh, I needed a laugh like that; it felt good!
Thank you ALL for every one of the wonderful photos and the stories too! Made my day! In our search for a house in Maine, I told my husband that there will be a sign when we find THE ONE – a pink flamingo or two in the yard!
Hey fellow Mainer!!!!
I just uploaded my picture. My camera bit the dust, so had to use the only good one I have. It’s after we closed on the house (little brown ranch), but had not moved in yet. So, Ricky and Lucy were here before us! I have them in the back yard now, but this upload will be over by the time I figure out what’s wrong with the darn camera!
Love everyone’s photos AND stories.
Right after I moved into my 1959 house about 8 years ago, I was at Eckerd drugs and they had a whole endcap full of Featherstone flamingos for $10 a set. There were a lot of moving expenses, so I felt guilty even buying one set. Now I wish I’d stocked up.
After 7 or so seasons they faded almost to white and one cracked all over, and I got a new set on amazon (that’s them with Bernie, my Bassett)
Great pics! Thank you, everyone!
I was reading your post too fast, Pam, and this: “I have mine propped in the front yard…” went like this: “Mine have pooped in the front yard…”
Sorry.
hahaha
I gave a pair to my little granddaughter which are now in their front garden in a newer suburb (don’t ask) only to have her Mum helping out at school one day and trapped by another little girl wanting to know if she lived in the house with the pink birds. Mum said yes. Little girl pauses and then says, Whyyyyyyyyyyy?!
I’m reasonably sure her parents would be thrilled to have been busted like that. Amuses us all endlessly.
Wow, Pam, I’m flattered! I do love my pink flamingos.
A sad, sweet flamingo story: Dulcy Mahar, a beloved Portland garden columnist, passed away about a year ago. She had been a passionate defender of garden ornaments, but had a special love for pink flamingos. In the weeks following her death, everyone in her local neighborhood added a pair of flamingos to their front lawn in her memory. It was a completely appropriate and heartwarming tribute.
What a beautiful story, Jane.
Oh my goodness, what a lovely story!
Posted my set.
Years ago at a previous house (in the 80s), I had a set in my front landscaping and one Christmas my neighbor secretly put a set of lights on them and lit them on Christmas morning. It was a great surprise! Later that year one flamingo went missing. It later turned up in the middle of the local high school’s football field! haha. Fun with Flamingos!
I couldn’t pass up buying a couple back-up sets of flamingos when my local greenhouse had them for $7.95. What a bargain! You never know when you might need an extra set.
OK, 20 years ago, we shared a farmhouse duplex in Cedarburg, WI where we our great landlord made a little game of moving the pair of plastic flamingos about the acre yard every few days, as if they were real… get it?
Then we got his permission to get two get two real pet geese (emdens) and they became our “living” lawn ornaments for many years.
How clever is the artist who customized their flamingos? Amazing job of it too!
Love, Love Love the custom pinstriped guys! That is truly AWESOME
I have a pair of ALUMINUM flamingos. I believe they predate the Featherstone model, as they were advertised in the Miami News in 1947:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19470309&id=4wctAAAAIBAJ&sjid=h9UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4047,4243771
very very cool. did you upload some pics? or, can you send them to me???
No time for photos today. I will try to get some this week.
OK. I have uploaded some photos.
Most interesting Twisted Time! I did a quick Google image search and don’t see anything that totally resembles the ad you shared. I’d love to see an old pic of them in someone’s yard.
Our flamingo lost his legs; he must have been off-brand. Instead of throwing him away, my DH added a new wooden leg (pirate style) and set him to watch over our eggplants and squash plants.
So cute, I am still waiting to see if you have an article about retro swing sets and vintage swimming pools in retro neighborhood parks. Your website is really awesome!
I have a real nice pair Albert Simon, the welder made but can’t seem to get around to putting them in on the front lawn.