Houses flocked with two dozen decoy geese for Eagle Lake fundraiser

EAGLE LAKE — For the rest of the summer, Eagle Lake residents can donate to the city’s Chamber of Commerce fundraiser to sneak a flock of decoy geese into another yard.

The “ You’ve Been Flocked” fundraiser will collect donations to fund Chamber events and support local small businesses. For a $25 donation, a flock of about 25 decoy geese will be placed in a yard of the donator’s choice for two days. The flocked recipient can donate to have the geese removed for $20 and to send the flock to another yard for another $30. Residents can also purchase flock insurance for $10 to prevent a flock from landing in their yard. Chamber of Commerce board president Paige Pavlu came up with the idea.

“I remember years back — I grew up in Columbus — I’ve seen before where people have done ‘you’ve been flocked’ with flamingos,” Pavlu said. “I kind of wanted to play off of that, and Eagle Lake used to be known as the goose hunting capital of the world.”

Pavlu said that a large portion of Eagle Lake’s tourism income comes from waterfowl hunters staying in lodges and engaging with local businesses. Waterfowl roost and eat pests of the local rice fields in the area. According to Chamber director Connie Herman, the Lower Colorado River Authority no longer provides water to the local rice farms, which has caused a decrease in rice fields and the number of waterfowls.

“You want to preserve wildlife, so we are concerned about conservation,” Pavlu said. “We have Ducks Unlimited ponds that are maintained specifically for conservation for the birds to come here each season.”

Pavlu enlisted the assistance of Chamber board member and Riceland Waterfowl Club owner David Pruett for the decoy geese. Pruett said he has thousands of decoy geese for the hunting season. Pruett said he has two hopes for the fundraiser.

“That people have fun with their friends and neighbors in this fundraiser,” Pruett said. “And that the Chamber can raise money to put it towards good use for other outreach in the community.”

Mayor Timothy Kelley was the first to get flocked as part of the fundraiser. Pavlu and other Chamber members placed the geese in his front yard Friday, July 11. Kelley said he did not know about the fundraiser beforehand.

“I didn’t have any idea what was in my yard when I came around [the corner],” Kelley said. “… They caught me by surprise, and I thought it was hilarious.”

The Chamber will post about and share photos of the flock’s journey on their Facebook. The link to the donation form for the fundraiser can also be found on the Chamber’s Facebook page.