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Publisher’s Notes:

First declared in 2007 in Leominster, Massachusetts, Pink Flamingo Day is celebrated annually on 23 June, in commemoration of its inventor, a sculptor and classically trained painter. Donald Featherstone (1936–2015) designed the iconic lawn ornament produced by Union Products of Leominster, beginning in 1957. He named his first flamingo Diego. During the next 40 years, he sculpted 750 different items for the company which produced them in thermoformed and blow-molded plastic. Today, many of his designs remain popular with collectors.

Featherstone received the 1996 Ig Nobel Prize in Art for the pink flamingo. Ig Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually since 1991 in ten categories, to honor “achievements that first make people LAUGH, and then make them THINK” (Improbable Research).

For more about the artist and his fabulous feathered friends, see this trio of articles:

“Pink Lawn Flamingo Creator Donald Featherstone Dies, But His Creations Live On” by Sarah Cascone in ArtNet (23 June 2015).

“How One Man’s Pink Plastic Flamingo Landed on Lawns Across the World” by Alexxa Gotthardt at Artsy (updated 10 December 2018), with 15 photos.

“Most People Didn’t Know That The Plastic Pink Flamingo Was Invented Right Here In Massachusetts” by Kim Falchek at Only In Your State (24 January 2024).

Bio: Guy Biederman