If I’m ever feeling down, I remember the smiling straw people of Europe. The very basic principal was as such. If you have no money for billboards or internet websites or wacky inflatable balloon people (who to me, are way too intense, like musical theatre students), or being where you are, situated between NoWheresVille and New NoSuchPlace, it makes very little sense to advertise beyond the highway, the straw people are the perfect, cheap, delightful solution. There is hay EVERYWHERE. I mean, as far as the 20/20 eye can see. What there isn’t a lot of is are people. People to greet potential customers to your restaurant, to convince them to take a break from their wary travels. So what is German with the best bar this side of….that cornfield over there, going to do about it. Build a greeter…OUT OF HAY. Yes, my friends, Europeans aren’t just technologically and socially advanced, but they are on top of the hospitality market as well. Stacking three barrels of hay on top of each other, attaching comically proportioned cutlery limbs and a wonderfully jovial and surprised to see you expression on it’s face. Brilliance in wheat form!
Straw Man with a Fez - Germany
Who was your favourite character from the Wizard of Oz? Probably not that whiney tiger or that “scary witch” with worst flaw ever, water! If only North Americans had a brain, they’d be doing the same thing. I think this would work in city centres even more so. Downtown Vancouver, among the sky scrapers and hubbub. Your walking with your head down, mind on the song blasting your I Pod, BAM! You walk face first into a STRAWMAN!
These modern day colossuses are truly awe inspiring. On a bike trip, tired and worn, sometimes my only prick of inspiration was the possibility of seeing one of these welcoming fellows, gleaming in the sun, yellow and brown and happy to be “alive”. The attention to artist detail is unequalled. The bulge in the eyes gives off an air of lonely desperation. Please come to my restaurant, even if you don’t want food or drink, just to talk to me, just to make sure I’m alive.
I was curious to see if these straw mock ups looked anything like they’re owners. What a let down. Europe, your next order of business is straw servers.