If a time ever called for a touch of whimsy, perhaps it is now.
Amid the daily onslaught of headlines alerting us to the latest attempts by Trump & Co. to destroy democracy, a flamboyance of plastic flamingos landed on Bainbridge Island this summer.
The onslaught of the leggy pink birds appears to have been set off after a few high school students earlier this year planted flamingos on a roundabout near their school. Since all things are in some way political, it turned out that you can’t randomly put stuff on roundabouts. Permits are required, and the pink intruders were ousted because they didn’t have any.
In a show of solidarity after the unpapered intruders were uprooted from the roundabout, islanders began to plant them hither and thither around Bainbridge.
The roundabout controversy prompted the city to issue an official statement in June trying to tamp down the citizenry’s outrage.
“Flamingos in the Roundabout? Let’s Not Wing It.
We get it, who doesn’t love a little festive flock of flamingos? But the High School Road and Madison Avenue roundabout isn’t the place for lawn decor (or signs, gnomes, or inflatable unicorns).
Decorations in public rights-of-way—especially in roundabouts—can block views and distract drivers right where we need them paying the most attention, on the road and crosswalks. Even more so near schools and the public library.
Let’s keep the whimsy where it shines brightest: your yard.
City sign codes prohibit signs in roundabouts, medians, triangles, and Winslow planters. To learn more, flock this way:
bainbridgewa.gov/1558/Temporary-Sign-Information
City code (15.12.280) also prohibits objects without a permit in the right-of-way.
Drive safe. Decorate responsibly. Keep Bainbridge fun and safe for everyone.”
Not everyone loved having the flamingos in the roundabout at High School Road and Madison Avenue. Someone anonymously logged an online complaint with the city citing “ugly and trashy flamingos” cluttering the roundabout.
The father of one of the high school students involved in the initial prank told the Bainbridge Island Review: “It started as a joke with my high school-age daughter and her friends. My wife brought home a massive bag of flamingos a year ago, and they were sitting in my garage. My daughter and her friends put some out a couple of months ago…
“The flamingos have always just been about fun and whimsy,” Dunn added. “The city made it confrontational for reasons that no one understands. Bainbridge is unique and this is just the community having fun and causing no harm. It brightens people’s day. We love that the community has embraced this and we’re looking forward to various iterations of the flamingos during festive periods.”
The Bainbridge flamingos have no known political affiliation, but at one point a sign popped up touting F. Lamingo for City Council, and Eagle Harbor Books put a poster in its window decorated with pink flamingos that proclaimed: “Our voices matter. So do our flamingos.”
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