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A New Bird in Town

Get ready: the Flamingle is coming.

UW Flamingo

On the morning of September 4, 1979, students trudging up Bascom Hill to their morning classes wiped the sleep from their eyes to see the entire hill turned … pink? The Pail & Shovel Party, led by legendary jokesters Jim Mallon ’79 and Leon Varjian, had “planted” 1,008 plastic pink flamingos on the Bascom lawn as a victory stunt after winning the student-government elections.

The flamingo prank did more than give UW–Madison a reputation of “inspired goofiness.” It also solidified the bird as a campus and Madison icon: in 2009, the plastic pink flamingo became the official city bird.

Here at the Wisconsin Alumni Association® (WAA), we believe in helping all alumni to stay tapped into the inspired goofiness of UW–Madison — which is why we’ve created the Flamingle. As if Fridays weren’t great enough already, starting on September 30, you’ll wake up to a freshly hatched Flamingle waiting in your inbox.

The Flamingle will share news about campus and the surrounding area while reveling in the traditions that you love about the UW. But we at Flamingle HQ want this relationship to be a two-way street — to put the mingle into Flamingle, you might say. And that means we want to hear from you! Check the bottom of each Flamingle for a fun, interactive piece of content that — we hope — will send that burning ember of UW pride into a full-on flame. At least momentarily.

So be on the lookout: the Flamingle is coming.

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