A Fading Flash of Pink

Even as my cherubs and seraphim report that a major firearms company is negotiating with a cartoon character — a very hot cartoon character, to be sure — to act as spokesman, word comes that one the most important cultural icons in America is headed for the recycle bin of history.

The pink flamingo is dead.

This from the Florida Sun-Sentinel:

RIP: Pink Flamingo, 1957-2006

The pink plastic flamingo, a Florida-inspired icon that has been reviled as kitschy bad taste and revered as retro cool, is dead at age 49.

The pop culture symbol met its demise after its manufacturer, Union Products, of Leominster, Mass., was socked with a triple economic threat -- increases in costs of electricity and plastic resin combined with loss of financing. Production ended in June, and the plant is scheduled to close Nov. 1, according to president and CEO Dennis Plante. Union Products made 250,000 of its patented plastic pink flamingos a year in addition to other garden products.

Sigh...sure, change is inevitable, but it certainly pains us here at the Mountain Redoubt to see such an enduring, and inspiring, image pass into the mists. Somewhere in an alternative universe, Travis McGee is staring at the dreadful lemon sky, a tear slipping from one fearful yellow eye. Meyer laughs quietly in the background, fixing yet another Boodles on ice...