A cool article showing how flamingos can bring together communities! Enjoy!
Flamingo parties turning neighbors into friends
By Courtney Flynn |Special to the Tribune, June 5, 2009
A kitschy theme with a retro mascot of sorts might be just the ticket this summer in Northbrook to promote a simple but often elusive goal: getting to know your neighbors.
Residents
are being encouraged to organize Flamingo Fridays, named after the
signature pink plastic flamingo lawn decorations planted in a yard to
let others know about a party there.
The beauty of the events is
their simplicity. They're outdoors -- most often in a driveway -- so
there's no need to clean the house. People bring their own food and
drinks, so there's little preparation. And people come and go as they
please, meaning no obligations or pressure.
Then, as the event
winds down, a partygoer is supposed to take the flamingo and post it in
his or her yard the following week to continue the tradition.
"In
this recession, people want opportunities that don't cost anything,
that aren't complicated where you can still have that contact with
other people," said Maria Doughty, who hosted a Flamingo Friday event
last week that drew about 30 people. "It's old-fashioned, but people
want to feel like there is a sense of community."
While the concept might be new in Northbrook, other suburban neighborhoods have been partying for years.
In
Elgin, for example, one neighborhood hosts Blue Tulip parties. The
events got their start about 10 years ago, when someone picked a tacky,
wooden blue tulip out of the garbage and posted it in a neighbor's
front yard as a joke, organizers said.
The tulip was passed
around, and the idea evolved into having the keeper of the tulip host
an outdoor party on a Friday night. The events sometimes draw more than
100 people, organizers said.
"There's no way we could know all
of our neighbors so well if we didn't see each other so regularly,"
said Kerry Kelly, a 10-year resident of the neighborhood that is home
to the Blue Tulip. "I just think it makes our neighborhood a lot more
cohesive."
In Northbrook, Flamingo Fridays began four years ago
in Doughty's neighborhood after someone borrowed the idea from a
relative in Minneapolis, said Dale Duda, a volunteer with Northbrook's
Community Relations Commission.
The events became so
successful, Duda said, that she took the idea to village officials last
fall in hopes of expanding the parties communitywide.
Initially, there was not a lot of interest, she said, but that changed when she brought the topic up again in January.
The village is not putting any money into Flamingo Fridays but supports the concept, officials said.
In
preparation for the inaugural night as a villagewide event May 29, Duda
said, organizers handed out roughly 50 pink flamingos donated by
bicycle shop owner Jerry Diamond. The initial response couldn't have
been better, she said.
She acknowledged that while the events
have an offbeat motif, they resonate with people by bringing relative
strangers together and creating long-term bonds that might never have
developed otherwise.
"Before the Flamingo Fridays, people came
home from work, the garage door went up, they went inside and you never
saw them again," Duda said.
"Now, when I walk down the street, my arm gets tired from waving to people. It's brought everyone out of their cocoons."
Residents in other Northbrook neighborhoods hope for similar effects from Flamingo Fridays.
"I know the neighbors across the street, but I have no idea who lives
down the block," said Donna Marchand, a 30-year Northbrook resident and
first-time host. "I always tell my husband we should have a block party
and when this came up, it was perfect."
About 45 people flocked
to Marchand's home May 29. She had set up a picnic table on her front
lawn, covered it with a pink tablecloth and spread out homemade deviled
eggs, hot pepper cream cheese spread and Rice Krispie treats.
Matt
Fera, who attended with his 9-year-old son, said he recognized some
neighbors he regularly saw walking down the block, but acknowledged he
didn't know many of their names.
"I leave in the morning, hit
the train, go to work and come home," said Fera, who has lived in his
Northbrook home for about two years. "This is a good way to meet the
neighbors. It brings everyone out."
Duda said she hopes the sense of community will take off.
"They
certainly have made a difference in our neighborhood," Duda said. "They
make it just so easy to get that connection going."
