You may have noticed a flock of flamingos moving around the Preston, Harmony, Lanesboro, and Fountain area in the last year and wondering what they were for.
The flamingo flock was started by the Harmony Just For Kix dance team as a fundraiser for a trip to the Outback Bowl. The Outback Bowl is held in Tampa Bay, Fla., around New Year’s each year and features college football teams. Each year, 800-1000 Just For Kix and high school dancers from across the country to perform a routine at the pregame show and during halftime and have been doing so for over 20 years. This is the first year that the Harmony Just For Kix group will attend.
In January of this year, a parent meeting was held for the Just For Kix parents to discuss the Outback Bowl. The signups were open for any dancers between 2nd and 12th grade. Ten dancers signed up to go on the trip. The cost isn’t cheap at around $1600 per dancer, but the girls have been working hard to fundraise all year and most have already raised about 75% of the total cost. The group of 10 named themselves the Root River Outback Bowl Dancers.
The girls will work on learning the routine before leaving on their trip and will have two to three hours of practice each day while they’re there. But it won’t be all work for them. They’ll be able to take a day trip to Disney World as well. Most of the dancers will be traveling on the same flight out of Minneapolis and will be accompanied by a parent.
Vicky Musel, the Harmony Just For Kix dance director, first heard about the idea of flamingo flocking as a fundraiser from some other area directors and thought it sounded like fun. So she bought 24 flamingos online for $90 and picked a friend’s house to start at on August 13.
When someone is “flocked,” they also receive a zippered pouch with instructions to call the Rescue Hotline to have the dancers/skilled flamingo wranglers come and remove them from their property. There is a $15 flocking fee and an additional $5 fee to anonymously have the flamingos moved to someone else’s yard. “It’s hilarious to see who they get sent to,” Vicky laughed. So far, the flock has been moved to 24 different yards.
Vicky rotates which dancer will move the flock so all of the girls get a chance to experience the fun. They usually move them at night or, if they know someone will be gone during the day, they can also do it then. “We do it super fast. Some people have called us ninjas because they were home when it happened and they never even saw us,” Vicky explained. “The girls love doing it.”
Sometimes, the flock gets moved twice in one day if people respond to the Rescue Hotline quickly. “We’ve lost a few flamingos. We started out with 24 and are down to 21 now. The flamingos that we have left are starting to get a little worn out,” Vicky said. Several times, the girls have gotten lost while trying to find the next requested address to flock, but the flamingos have always made it. Vicky made sure to call the area police departments before the flocking started to get their blessing and make sure that they would know what was going on if someone called them.
The fundraiser has been such a hit that Vicky is hoping to add a second flock the next time they do it. “I’ve had people call up and tell me how much they liked it and even had some ask to be flocked again,” Vicky laughed. A few people have shared pictures of the flock in their yard on the Harmony Just For Kix Facebook page, which Vicky encourages as it’s a great way to let more people know about it. “This has been one of the most fun fundraisers,” she said. The flamingos will continue to flock the area until the ground freezes.
Some of the other fundraisers that the girls have done since January are selling Casey’s pizza cards, garage sales, a silent auction at the spring dance show, and selling t-shirt sponsorships. Over 75 local businesses bought a space on the team t-shirts, which are worn on travel days and at other events. “The girls did a phenomenal job with the t-shirts and raised over $6000,” Vicky noted. The Casey’s cards were also big hit and, the dancers will be selling them again in November. The team will be selling flower bulbs this winter and hosting a Paint With Me workshop for kids and adults in October.
As the fundraising this year has been so successful, Vicky is hoping to see more dancers sign up to go on the trip next time. She’s hoping to go every 3-4 years.
Just For Kix is open for kids age two through 12th grade. The Harmony group’s mission is to not only teach kids proper dance techniques, but to help them learn to express themselves through movement and how to be active, healthy, self-confident, and kind.
If you have some flamingos sitting in your garage that you’re not using, the Just For Kix team would love to take them off your hands for the next time they fundraise by flamingo flocking!
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