Porch geese don’t honk, they just bring smiles

RUSSELLVILLE They may not honk or roam, but Franklin County’s porch geese have a knack for bringing people together, sparking smiles and making life a little lighter.

No special food is required, a feature making them inherently low maintenance, though some people enjoy making or buying outfits and keeping festive themes going throughout the year.

Aymee Fretwell Gandy doesn’t pretend her porch goose is anything fancy. She just knows it makes her happy.

“I bought her on eBay about 18 years ago when I was living in Pennsylvania,” she said. “I had always wanted one and could never find one.”

Named Goosey Lucy, the ceramic goose sits by her front door, often dressed in outfits Gandy finds online.

Rhonda Bullion and Sgt. Matthew Waldrep, public safety telecommunicators at the Franklin County 911 office, pose with Dispatch Goose.
PHOTOS BY MARÍA CAMP

She first fell in love with porch geese as a teenager in Franklin County when she noticed a friend’s mother had dressed one in their color guard uniform, complete with a tiny flag. That memory stuck, dormant but not forgotten, until she grew up, got married and decided to find one of her own.

“It just makes me happy every time I come in the house,” she said. “I can’t tell you how many people who come to the door comment on it. It’s a conversation piece.”

Though she has made plenty of dog clothes over the years, Gandy doesn’t make the goose outfits herself. Instead, she finds them online.

“She’s just part of the cheerfulness,” Gandy said. “You go out and even if you’ve had a bad day, you get to come home and be greeted by her. I try to make her cheerful. The smallest thing will make me laugh or smile.”

Patsy Price remembers buying her porch goose more than 30 years ago.

Dispatch Goose dresses to impress, and to educate.
PHOTOS BY MARÍA CAMP

“I went into a florist in downtown Russellville to order flowers, and it was sitting at the door,” she said. “I just fell in love with it.”

She paid $25 at the time and still has it on her front porch. She used to make outfits for Halloween, Christmas and even a watermelonthemed one.

“My husband and daughter said I was crazy,” she said, laughing. “I used to talk to it. I’d pat it when I went out.”

She hasn’t dressed her porch goose up in a while but is thinking about starting again.

She said she’s noticed more people asking about porch geese lately, especially in local Facebook groups.

Lindsey Higgins got interested in porch geese thanks to social media.

“I came across a video of another group that had a porch goose, and I just kind of became obsessed with it,” she said.

She was working as a public safety telecommunicator at Franklin County 911 at the time and tried to convince the office to get a pet fish or cat. When that failed, she joked about getting a porch goose instead.

“They were like, ‘What is that?’ and I showed them, and Rhonda Bullion became obsessed too,” Higgins said.

In all, the discovery of the world of porch geese led to three more coming to Franklin County — one for Higgins, one for Bullion and one for the 911 office. At home, Higgins’ goose is a family project.

“I have two kids and it’s something we have fun doing together, looking at the different outfits we can order,” she said. “It kind of gives it its own personality.”

Bullion, a current public safety telecommunicator for Franklin County 911, worked with Higgins at the time. Now that Higgins has moved on, Bullion manages what’s become known as Dispatch Goose.

It lives in the Belgreen 911 office and sports dozens of costumes — a police uniform, a nurse’s scrubs, a judge’s robe, a clown suit, and even a watermelon outfit for the festival.

But it’s more than decoration.

“When I started posting the goose, our Facebook page went up 118%,” Bullion said. “We got 32 new followers last week.”

She says the posts are a way to deliver safety announcements in a friendly voice.

“It’s kind of fun, but for public service too,” she said. “We’ve done things like letting livestock owners know they can call us if their animals get out. We had over 270 shares when we helped find a lost pony.”

The goose has become something of a mascot, even in tough times.

“This job is so serious,” Bullion said. “If we have a bad day with a bad accident or a fatality, it kind of gives us a little relief. It’s almost like our therapy goose. We talk about what costume to put on next. It’s brought us together as a small group.”

911 Director Brandon James said he didn’t hesitate when the idea for a porch goose was pitched.

“Anytime you get a trend out on social media, you know everybody tries to follow that,” he said. “It’s just something neat for the public to interact with us.”

He likes the added benefit of making serious messages stand out more.

“You get that engagement, and then when you have something serious to say, people are already paying attention,” he said. “We just ran with it.”