The Statue of Liberty gained its place as a true Wisconsin monument, just before a flock of pink flamingos descended on Bascom Hill. Sound like the beginning of a wild piece of fiction? Nope, just a couple days in the life of some UW-Madison legends.
In the late 1970s, the Pail & Shovel party took over UW-Madison. Leon Varjian and Jim Mallon founded the party after Varjian was appointed to an open seat on the student government.
\We were just the joke candidates,"" Varjian said. ""We had these fliers: Honesty, Integrity, Responsibility. Pail & Shovel doesn't believe in any of them!""
Varjian met Mallon during an early prank and the two quickly discovered a creative companionship.
""I set out a table on Library Mall with a petition to change the name of the University of Wisconsin-Madison to the University of New Jersey. I got over 100 signatures actually,"" Varjian said. ""Another early prank was the ring toss onto Abe Lincoln's head.""
Stu Baker, a former Pail & Shovel party member, said Varjian and Mallon were the driving forces in getting others to join.
""Really what happened was Jim and Leon ... got us all involved and we had this creative synergy,"" he said. ""I'm still amazed this many years after. It was the late '70s in Madison and all the war stuff was going on, so Madison was a really liberal place. We went to the other extreme, playing on the absurd.""
Jay Kennedy, former Pail & Shovel party member, said realizing the student government provided them a budget was a starting point for the pranks to grow.
Among the party's campaign promises were ones to fill Camp Randall with water and hold boat races and to bring a major tourist attraction to Madison.
""New York City had so many [attractions],"" Kennedy said. ""So we called the mayor's office and asked them to sell us the Statue of Liberty and, not surprisingly, they said no, so we built it ourselves.""
In February 1979, coupled with design students at UW-Madison, the Pail & Shovelers created the head and arm of the Statue of Liberty to sit on the iced-over Lake Mendota, at a cost of $4,500.
""We drilled holes and raised the whole thing up in the middle of the night,"" Baker said. ""It was really cold and horrible outside. The next day it made network news and that's when I realized it was big stuff. Seeing Tom Brokaw and our Lady Liberty on the screen together was amazing.""
After only three weeks, the statue was burned to the ground in the middle of the night.
""It was controversial. Many people-including The Daily Cardinal-thought it was a bad thing and to this day we don't know who burned [the statue] down.""
The Pail & Shovelers rebuilt the statue the following year for over $6,000, but it too was short-lived, as the Department of Natural Resources soon ordered its removal.
Kennedy said the group then began working on a plan to bring a second monument to the university.
""We announced we were bringing the Washington Monument to Madison,"" Kennedy said. ""So we rented the biggest construction crane we could find and put a huge tarp under it. Underneath was a $1.49 replica of the monument about three inches tall. But it rained horribly the day we unveiled it. Not many people saw it, but it was one of my favorites.""
As the weather warmed, the Pail & Shovel party decided it was time for a new prank, and purchased more than 1,000 pink plastic flamingos. The group assembled them off campus and placed them on Bascom Hill at dawn. By 10 a.m. students carried most of the flamingos away.
""We told [the university] Hurricane David-which had just gone through-had blown the flamingos up to Madison and blown them onto the lawn. We didn't take responsibility for it,"" Baker said.
Although the group left its mark with high-profile pranks on campus, Baker said the party accomplished more than just having fun during its two-year reign.
""We're remembered for crazy pranks, but we created a lot of revenue and we funded a lot of student organizations. People tended not to see what we did with that,"" he said.
Kennedy and Baker said though many people had fun seeing the Pail & Shovel pranks unfold, others were not as pleased and felt the group was wasting student funds.
""What some people liked and some hated was we were coming off a serious time and some people felt like we were making fun of all that,"" Baker said. ""But ultimately it was good public relation and promotions for UW. Sure we were spending money, but we were promoting an image of fun and creativity and who doesn't want that?""
And where are the Pail & Shovelers now? Kennedy is editor-in-chief of King Features Syndicate, part of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication. Baker is head of the Library Information System at Northwestern University. Varjian is a high school mathematics teacher in New Jersey and Mallon is one of the producer/writer/directors of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Looking back, Baker said he realized the group was oblivious to any possible consequences, but the spontaneity and creative collaboration of the group eclipsed any thoughts of negative aftereffects.
""It's immensely rewarding,"" Baker said. ""There's a great feeling of pride and satisfaction, but we didn't think of it like that. We were just in the moment, and now the fact that I can go into a bookstore and buy a postcard of it just blows me away.""
Remnants of the Lady Liberty prank are evident all over Madison-in postcards at the bookstore, in enlarged-photo form at State Street Brats and even as number four on the Museum of Hoax's list of the ""Top 10 College Pranks of All Time."" Though the pranks are over, their history lives on.
""I still smile at it whenever I see that,"" Varjian said. ""I buy the postcards and I think it's a riot. ... I love Madison, it's a wonderful place and to think I had a hand in the lore of Mad City; I'm very proud.""
