Do they dream of plastic lawn frogs?

I raced to round them up and tuck them safely away last year when I first read the news. My head swam with visions of their numbers dwindling in the near future, the possibility of poachers cashing in on them, the possible black market sales as they became more rare and the very real possibility of their colorful flocks disappearing.

In 2006, Union Products Inc. closed it's doors permanently and the plastic factory ended the 50 years of production of pink flamingo lawn ornaments. Don Featherstone, who studied art before Union Products hired him in 1956 to expand it's lawn ornament department, designed the now famous flamingos for them. Featherstone worked from pictures in National Geographic magazine and sculpted his own versions of the graceful birds. These were in turn, used to create the molds used in the production of the plastic versions.

"There are other people who have tried to capitalize on his design, but none that I have seen hold a candle to the quality and detail he created," said J C Waszkiewicz, head of family-owned HMC.

The flamingo lawn ornaments hit the market in the late 1950's when America's exploding population of new suburbanites were looking to add that "something special" to their lawns. The color pink was popular then and with those factors, the flamingo sales took flight. While many have enjoyed their quiet grace within the garden, others have seen them as one of the great symbols of bad taste. The pairs of birds which typically sell for $10-$20 have been banned by some residential developements, targeted by pranksters and at times, kidnapped and forced to travel the globe leaving only the photos of their travels and memories for their former owners.

Fear not though, HMC International LLC has closed on its purchase of Union Products in April 2007 and plans to resume production of the birds in Westmoreland NY by the end of this summer. Included in the sale are the copyrights and plastic molds for the original Featherstone versions and Waszkiewicz believes retailers will appreciate the great looking birds he designed.

With production set to begin in the near future, I will no longer have to keep my birds locked away for their safety. Once again flamingos will flourish, stand proudly among the flower gardens, graze silently across the green lawns of America and huddle around the man-made frog ponds. The American made flamingo can hold it's head high above the cheap knockoffs and allow a new generation of bird lovers to embrace them.