Join me in saying goodbye to Don Featherstone, inventor of the pink flamingo?
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, plastic pink flamingos were a fad that you couldn’t avoid in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Now, thankfully, they are rare. But I remember my neighborhood when I was a kid – these ugly things were everywhere.
How many people can create a fad like this?
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I love those plastic flamingos. I guess I have cheap taste. At least your legacy will live on somehow, Don.
Adios to Mr. Featherstone. Kudos for once more confirming the adage that “you can’t lose money from underestimating the taste of the American public” It’s fun to recall other proofs of the principle, like pet rocks and velvet “portraits” of Elvis.
According to NPR he and his wife were characters, always dressing in identical outfits made by his wife. Sounds like they were full of life and fun.
Here’s my question: Why were my grandmother’s pink flamingos concrete? Did they predate the plastic, or did the makers of concrete yard tuna copy the plastic? I can’t find a definitive answer online.
Pink flamingos are just as tacky as tire planters and discarded toilets used as flower planters. And I love them all. I’m probably lucky that they exceed my wife’s tolerance for my questionable tastes!
Couldn’t tell you much about the 60s or 70s, but I have a pink flamingo stuck between the brick pavers on my patio.
I love that thing.
I also have an one-legged pink flamingo, faded to pale rust, stuck in the stump of a birch tree. I love it. It had a mate, once, but the UPS or FedEx guy probably stole it. How it originally arrived here, I have no idea.
I love pink flamingo’s. Every garden should have one.
There are some pretty cool vintage indoor flamingos, too.
I don’t know if Featherstone started the whole flamingo trend, or just rode the wave.
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