On Wednesday, June 19 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., the Tamarack Brewery will be hosting a very special “birthday bash” for one of Lakeside’s finest public servants.
Everyone is welcome to come by and honor the most effective (and inanimate) residents of Lakeside.
However, the intended mirth and merriment is not to celebrate the man’s moral compass, his unswerving constitution, or his indefatigable sense of duty.
It’s to celebrate how well this plastic, officer-in-disguise mannequin has such a commanding presence in his official-looking 1995 Ford Crown Victoria sedan, that he actually tricks people into slowing down.
Yes, this is a party for a dummy and a decoy. Literally.
“Lucky” is a dummy propped up in what appears to be a police cruiser running a speed trap. At first glance, Lucky certainly appears to be the “real deal.” Besides, he has the typical accoutrements of a law enforcement officer, including the archetypal “cop ‘stache” and aviator sunglasses. His determined focus and equanimity make him seem more convincing. And his stern jaw seems to have uttered “license and registration please” at least a thousand times.
Yet up close, Lucky is little more than hollow and hamstrung. He can’t do anything. He isn’t real. Nonetheless, he tirelessly gets the job done when it comes to slowing down speeding cars in Lakeside and Somers no matter where he parks on the side of the road.
Indeed, Lucky performs a valuable public service getting drivers to slow down – especially during the summer months, when tourists and visitors make Highway 93 quite a busy corridor. It’s a time of year when there are plenty of cars and plenty of pedestrians. And Lucky helps slow down the former, to help protect the latter.
Lucky does his job so well that drivers not only slow down, some pull over and stop once they realize what he’s truly made of (even if it was just to obtain photographic evidence that they truly were taken by a dummy).
The birthday party intends to celebrate Lucky’s five years of service. But more importantly, it’s to help raise funds to keep him “on duty” for another year and to finally install the speed indicator signs in Somers (like the ones at the north and south ends of Lakeside).
So mark your calendars and plan to support a good cause.
At the least, come celebrate a birthday for a “guy” who can’t do anything – yet does so much to help keep us safe.