Flocking for dance

They landed while Linda Dembroski was working in her garden Monday night. She heard activity on her front lawn and went to investigate. There, roosting on her grass were 16 pink flamingos, some sporting glitter, bows and sunglasses.

“I was flocked,” Dembroski said Tuesday morning.

She wasn’t upset at the sudden migration, part of a parent-led project to raise money to send Superior students to dance camp.

“I think it’s very cute — a cute idea, a good fundraiser,” Dembroski said.

She liked it so much she wrote a check to land a similar flock in a friend’s yard.

“Hopefully she’ll send it on down the line of friends,” Dembroski said.

Three flocks of “dancing flamingos” are roaming Superior as part of the fundraiser being held by Parents of Superior Dance.

“We wanted to do a different kind of fundraiser, something that someone in our area has not done,” said Missy Siers, who is spearheading the effort with fellow parent Shannon Olson. They were looking for something that offered a high profit margin, could be reused and would be remembered.

What they found were flamingos. For a $15 donation, a flock of pink birds can land on any yard specified. The critters will remain on the lawn for a day before taking off to a new site, and those who are flocked will get a letter explaining the fundraiser.

The ornamental birds are expected to stay for the most part within Superior city limits, but they can’t be placed on public property or apartment lawns. Members of the parents group will set up and remove the pink birds.

“It’s going to be exciting, something we can all participate in,” said Robin Dallman, a member of Parents of Superior Dance. She has already targeted two lawns to receive flamingos.

“It’s going to be so funny,” Dallman said.

The parents hope to raise enough money to send 32 members of the Spartan Dance Team to a three-day Just for Kicks dance camp in Brainerd, Minn. The cost to attend is $373 per dancer, including transportation. It’s a worthwhile opportunity, according to SHS student Aly Franks. The 17-year-old attended the camp last summer. She said they learn different techniques and perfect others.

“A lot of it is just taking, like, everything we know and kind of fixing it,” she said. “Like perfecting it; cleaning everything up.”

The moves they learn are incorporated in routines, Aly said, and the girls will get to compete against some of the best teams in Minnesota.

Parents want to give the youth this opportunity. They have high hopes the pink birds will help reach the goal.

“It is a new, fresh way for fundraising,” Siers said, and the reaction so far has been good. By Monday night, nine yards had been selected for visits from the birds, many of them in Billings Park and the city’s East End.

Mary Jo and Putta Olson sent the flamingos winging to Dembroski’s yard Monday night.

“I’ve bowled with them for years,” Dembroski said. She counts them as longtime friends and bowling buddies. And she is passing on the favor. Her flamingo target is another bowling pal, and she hopes that person will pass the flock on to another bowling friend.

The birds can be sent anonymously if donors prefer. Dallman said she wanted her friends to know that she sent the flamingos.

“I put my name on them,” she said. “So someday I expect something to happen to me.”

The flamingos will roam around the city as long as orders keep coming in.

“Hopefully we’re not doing it in December,” Siers said with a laugh.

Community members who want to flock a friend can contact Siers at (715) 394-4857 or missycm@hotmail.com through the Facebook page “Dancing Flamingo Flock” or by mailing the victim’s name and address, and a $15 check to Siers at 1002 E. Fifth St., Superior, WI 54880.

Tags: news, dance, education, family, money