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A
number of years ago, it was late 90
or early 2000’s or so I was traveling back from a balloon event in
Billings,
Montana. During the drive, I was day dreaming about all the fun
we had
and how I hoped my crew and passengers had enjoyed ballooning as much
as I
did. It came to me that once we leave an event city there
really is
nothing left behind except some awesome pictures and great
memories. Keep
in mind this was before digital cameras and face book!
During the
drive I thought about the different awards balloonist have
given
out like the moose award, rookie, and of course one I have never
received 1st place.
A thought developed, why not give an award out to the
person
that best represented what ballooning is about, dedication, early
mornings, adventure’s and friendship. I left those thoughts in
the back
of my head for a couple of weeks wondering what kind of award I could
come up
with. During a sales call to the Fountain Factory in Coalhurst
Alberta, I
saw an assortment of cement frog lawn ornaments with various colours of
bikinis. I remembered purchasing one and giving it to Glen Ulveland a
number of
years previous as a house warming gift when he moved into his new
home. I
inquired if he could make me some frogs that had pink bikinis? He
replied
he had never done any with pink but sure why not. I immediately ordered
6
frogs. Hence the Pink Bikini Frog Society was born. Each
frog
weighs 12 pounds, is 13” long by 5” wide and 6” high.
For
local events there is no issue getting a frog there but you can see how
my
luggage suffers when flying to an event. You should try explaining the
frog to U.S or Japanese customs!
I don’t
remember for sure who was awarded the first pink frog but I think it
was either
Peter Van Overwalle or Dennis Waldron. But since then I
purchased
the mold from Fountain Factory and although there are similar frogs out
there
is none the same as the Pink Bikini Frog award. We now have them
poured
at a lawn decoration place and they do the rough paint. We finish
painting them
in the shop at home.
Every balloon event I go to or
in one case Woody Balloon goes to, I give out a pink bikini frog
to one
of my fellow balloonist, be it a pilot, crew , or volunteer.
Internationally they reside as
far away as Australia, Belgium, Japan, Thailand, Mexico. In
Belgium she
resides beside a spectacular outdoor Coy pond. One of 3 in Japan
resides at the
Saga Balloon club clubhouse. A recent frog award is
in Chaing
Mia Thailand and a local pilot for Calgary is going over in November
2009 and
is going to try and find her and have his picture taken with her
there.
Leon Mexico is a place I have never been but Woody went in 2007 so a
frog had
to go and was left with Woody’s crew. There
is number of frogs across the
U.S. in states like Montana, Georgia, Alabama, Michigan,
Colorado, and
Alaska. I know one was kidnapped out of Denver and traveled
around North
America touring balloon events before being returned to its rightful
home.
Another rides the bow of a boat on the St Lawrence seaway. One was
stolen from
a front yard in Billings and is yet to be found. Another is
trying to get
a picture taken with the Wizard Crab fishing boat in Alaska. One
resides
in the back woods of Alabama on an old cotton plantation. There
are a
number of frogs in Canada. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba,
British
Columbia are the most common. One moved from Saskatoon to Grande
Prairie. One hangs out in an old John Deer tractor outside of
Moose
Jaw. More recently, a Frog is trying to get aboard a U.S.
Marine
helicopter and get a flight to Afghanistan where she will spend a tour
of duty
over there as a mascot for some of the U.S. Marines. I
plan to continue this tradition
until my ballooning career is over so if you should happen to see one
of the
frogs you will know you are in the company a great balloon
person. Of
course any pictures of the frogs are always welcomed. Jamie
Kinghorn |