An Open Letter to the Mayor of Leominster, MA - who declared Pink Flamingo Day

Hello Mr. Mazzarella,

My name is Michelle Reed (from Fremont, Ohio) and I am the President of the Lawn Greetings Association, Inc. - a trade association for Lawn Greetings business owners all across the US, Canada, and a few other countries. I am writing you today to introduce myself and to also let you know more about our association and its affiliate with the plastic pink flamingo.

You may or may not be familiar with this industry. Our association is a collaboration of business owners who primarily set up flamingo displays (and other critter types) in people's yard to surprise them for any special occasion in their life. Yes, there is an entire industry for this sort of thing, and it all stems from someone you know well, Don Featherstone and his pink flamingos. Upon searching the internet, I came upon several news articles about your event last June where you declared June 23rd as Pink Flamingo Day. We are very interested in learning more about this event, the history and your thoughts about future events celebrating Don and his flamingos.

To be honest with you, I have been brainstorming for ideas on how to spread the word about the lawn greetings industry in order to help our members and their business grow. During this brainstorming process, I happen to learn of something very intriguing to me, there were some cities out there that claimed to set records for the most pink flamingos in one display. I did some more checking and discovered that we could also attempt to set a record for the most pink flamingo displays set out across the US and Canada through Guinness World Records. I have already sent an inquiry about the event to them and received correspondence that it has passed through the first screening process and is being sent to review.

Which leads me to contacting you. I am wanting to know if you would be interested in joining us in our efforts to set this world record by helping us spread the word about it, and/or allowing us to use any resources you have available to publicize this event. By that, I don't mean any monetary donations or sponsorships (unless you really want to. :) ) but help us coordinate it and organize it by volunteering some time, advice or connections that may help in our endeavor. I am assuming that you will be holding another event in June and would love to fly out there to be a part of it and hopefully we can get everyone really psyched up for this event, perhaps invite officials with Guinness World Records to also join us.

I am currently spreading the word within our industry of this event and project. Many are VERY excited to be a part of it, and we aren't limited to just those in the industry being able to participate in the event. Anyone can be involved as long as they pre-register, participate, and provide their proof. I am asking that people set out a minimum of 6 plastic pink flamingos of any kind and a sign which states why they are doing this from 9am to 6pm (est), snap a photo or take video of their display, have a local official sign a statement that they witnessed this display being set up through out the day, submit their photos/videos/statements to us, then collect them all to see how many we can collect. Our goal is 100 yards with pink flamingos across the US and Canada, because this is pretty much the amount I can estimate to participate from our industry. However, with lots of help and dedication, I am positive we can have MUCH HIGHER figures than that, possibly in the thousands. This is my "perfect scenario" goal.

What will this accomplish? The end result and bottom line would be wide and massive exposure to our industry, Don Featherstone, the plastic pink flamingo and also the town of Leominster, MA and yourself. More importantly though, a residual effect will result in a "feel good" story of spreading goodwill and humor to everyone. Imagine hearing about this story, it is guaranteed to make anyone smile, right? After all, anytime you see a pink flamingo in a yard, don't you smile to yourself? I certainly do! I really feel that this would be a humorous event to make people feel better for at least one day of the year.

Ok, I think I have taken up enough of your time and I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this email and giving it some consideration. I humbly look forward to the opportunity of speaking with you more about this project. Perhaps if you are interested in a phone call, you can contact me at the number listed below, pretty much any time of the day or let me know a time and number to call you.

Just so you know I am serious about this, here are a few of our websites that you can check out that are related to our industry and what we are trying to do.

Please feel free to visit them.
www.lawn-greetings.org - Our association website
www.flamingoed.com - Flamingoed Lawn Greetings Directory, a listing of rental companies
www.lawn-greetings.com/forum - The Lawn Greetings Business Owners Forum, were we congregate
www.pinkflamingoday.com - Our website dedicated to this event (still under construction but some info resides)
www.lawngreetingsmonth.com - Another one of our websites (also under construction) to promote our declaration that April is Lawn Greetings Month.

Or you can do a Google search for Lawn Greetings or Yard Cards and a plethora of websites come up that are industry related.

Thank you so very much, I eagerly await your reply.
---------------------------
Michelle Reed
President - Lawn Greetings Association, Inc.
admin@lawn-greetings.org
567-201-0844
Visit our new site! www.Lawn-Greetings.org

Making a conscious effort here

Hello everyone, this is Michelle, and for those who don't know me, I am the President of the Lawn Greetings Association.

I created this blog to make a concious effort to keep it maintained and updated regularly. We will see how far this goes, hopefully someone will actually read it! If you are a regular visitor, please feel free to comment or drop me a line.

A little information to get you started. We have a Lawn Greetings Business Owners Forum with over 1100 registered members. The people are some of the nicest folks you will ever meet and I am so thankful to be a part of this community. I started as a regular newbie member myself back in early 2004. Scottie created the forum and her Flamingoed Lawn Greetings Directory for us to use. Since I started, I remember many positive things over the last few years that stick out in my mind.

Let me reflect on some things that we have done to help each other.

~ Regularly exchanged industry resources and information
~ Shared ideas for critter and sign designs
~ Shared ideas for phrases and messages for signs
~ Helped each other with excouragement and support when someone was facing tough times.
~ Gathered money and items to send to a member who was effected by Hurricane Katrina
~ Sometimes intentory was loaned to another member to help with a rental
~ Many referrals were given between businesses
~ We collected photos to create a slide show DVD in honor of Don Featherstone and sent it to him
~ We are also organizing a effort to celebrate our declaration of April as Lawn Greetings Month
~ We are organizing a grass roots effort to celebrate Pink Flamingo Day (June 23rd) and collaborating a massive effort to break a record with the Guinnes Book of World Records by having the most flamingo lawn greetings displays across the US & Canada and any other member on the globe who wishes to participate

I have never been a part of such a community of people who believe wholeheartedly in what they are doing. It is fun, exciting and very rewarding. Sure, it has its ups and downs, but like anything else in life, you strive to improve.

If you are a member, please comment here on some of your most fondest memories. If you are a random person checking out this blog and are interested in our industry, whether to rent a display or start your own company, please visit our links. I guarantee you will be fully entertained and informed!

Happy flocking!
~Michelle