Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Chicken Man, Or What It's Like to Live In A Used Car Lot

First of all, gotta say the Chicken Man from Woodland Park, Colo., would be a mighty fine site mascot:



Just in case you never visit Fark.com and are not familiar with the situation, here's the story in a nutshell. Or rather, in the form of a link: http://www.gazette.com/articles/chicken_31802___article.html/city_branden.html

Now, I live near a city that could probably use a taste of Branden's decorum, if not its dour sense of humor. We have several businesses in town who employ otherwise unemployable college students to advertise their businesses while wearing costumes. A tax preparer regales us with Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty. A juice bar provides entertainment via a dancing banana. Pizza places, a local big box store that's run like a high school economics class project and other various shops employ people to stand on the snow-encrusted sidewalks, waving signs advertising their wares. Then there are the banners, balloons, blower-powered flappers, and other folderol that conspire to make the town look like a 25,000-people strong used car lot.

About a year ago, a luckless city employee tried to enforce a law on the books prohibiting such advertising. Needless to say, she was run out of town on a rail as the business owners whined it is their right to visually pollute the town with their garbage ads in the sake of pursuing a buck. So we continue to have a city that looks like it just got home from the flea market. And there's no reason to keep secrets: It's Rexburg, Idaho. The only town I know where the local pizzeria can issue a four-page booklet extolling the evolution of their restaurant, the intimate details of the lives of its founders and figure since they bore their testimonies they didn't need to offer any coupons to the unwashed masses. So we never go there. There's no need to keep secrets: It's Craigo's.

Yes, I am a negative vibe merchant. So be it.

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