Parrots.
No, not the ones pining for the fjords.
The ones that have lined our storefront windows this week.
That’s what’s been sunny in my world as editor over the last week.
It’s one of those ideas that popped up in a discussion last fall in the office about ways to engage and connect with the community outside of special sections, especially around festivals.
Cue the parrots. The idea was simply what could we do even if we were not open at the time to show our support for the festival in uptown. As the editor, I’m always covering events (kind of the job description), but our office is usually closed on those festival weekends.
We have a window that looks out into those streets, though. And Rochelle Ferguson, our circulation manager and front desk person was the person who floated the idea. She mentioned something like the coloring page, and it made me smile. It was already an easy way to tie into the themes/artwork for each year, as we could probably find something related to the community piece to highlight in our storefront.
We already have the paper on hand for a few weeks before Chalk the Walk to get to kids who want to participate, and it was easy to have extras on hand as we needed from resources like the papers we have to get tear sheets for legal publications so no purchase was necessary if we advertised that.
The next portion was the key – what would the prize be?
Our thanks have to go to Ann at Silver Spider for being game for the collaboration there. Because it was the first place I could think of catering to both age ranges that would definitely be something kids want to shop at if they won.
As parrots have been flocking in and resting at our window, it made me smile to see them just as much as it did when we first discussed this. To have another way to highlight the creativity of all in our community.