FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 5, 2000, 11:30 p.m. Barnes Place to Host Spring Flamingo Festival Celebration of Struggle; Success BARNES PLACE, ATLANTA, GA.-Barnes Place (www.barnesplace.com) has announced its spring festival, "Resurgens: Flamingo Rising", to take place Saturday, May 13 at 7:35 p.m. The event will mark the one-year anniversary of the Inflatable Chair Massacre, which killed 20 percent of the Barnes Place flamingo flock and began a year of struggle for the plastic ornament. The flamingo population in the Flamingo Grove at Barnes Place dwindled quickly since then, barely successful in efforts to repopulate. Barnes Place Co-Directors Timothy State and Anthony Dornacher hope the festival will designate a new beginning for the lawn flamingo--a begining of easier times. "We wanted to celebrate the struggle, and the eventual success of the plastic lawn flamingo," said State. "At first I thought about planting a cherry tree, and each spring the beauty of the blossom would remind us that life is uncertain. And then I thought there was irony in there. I mean, what if it doesn't bloom? That's uncertain in itself." "I was swimming in the Georgia Tech pool one evening, observing the skyline of Atlanta as the sun set upon it, and that's when I had a vision. The auburn of the sky and buildings reminded me of the scene in 'Gone With the Wind' where Atlanta burns. And, I thought to myself, 'There are some paralells between the lawn flamingo and the people of Atlanta.' That's why we decided to theme the festival 'Resurgens: Flamingo Rising.'" Twenty-three years after red-headed General William T. Sherman and his Union army caputured and burned Atlanta, the City Government adopted the city seal. The seal tells the story of a city resurrected from destruction, built by the citizens who refused to accept defeat as their fate, and determined to make their city greater and more beautiful than before. Just as the Phoenix, fabled bird of myth and legend, rose from the ashes of its destruction to begin a new life, the people of Atlanta returned to their burned city, only slightly bitter and with only a tinge of self-pitty, to create their new destiny. Today, the City's seal stands as an enduring symbol of courage, vision and selflessness. Resurgens is the latin term meaning to rise again. "We thought it would be appropriate if the lawn flamingo were to rise once again, on the anniversary of its destruction," said State. --END--