Sign Dancing

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Fort Collins was the abnormal amount of sign dancers.  You know, those poor teenage/college kids that wave around an unwieldy and obnoxiously hard-to-read sign at the corner of some large intersection, attempting to influence you to visit the huge mattress sale or thrift shop or have your house painted?  Well, this town seems to almost not have enough corners to hold all of these minimum-wage, rain-snow-hailstorm-or-shine America's next best dancers, who offer more entertainment during my daily commute than any iPod playlist ever could.  

My current list of favorite sign dancers is as widely varied as the commitment level of the sign dancers (well, I suppose it's more of a ratio of commitment to the job versus public embarrassment potential).  There's the curly haired kid at Harmony and Lemay who does nothing but headbang.  I have seen him standing there on the corner, every day, during lunch hour, after work...  headbanging.  And trying to invite you to the bike sale.  My favorite part?  He rides a skateboard.

Then there is the dancing dog (at least i think it's a dog), who is a guy who wears ears glued to a headband and some sort of tail.  And holds a sign for something completely unrelated to him dressing, however poorly, as a canine.  The mysterious giant strawberry (only sighted once)... it may have been a mirage.  It was just an exceptionally large dancing strawberry.  I can't even remember if he/she/it was holding a sign.   It did look delicious.  One day, I saw an older guy, who, if he lets his dreams fly as high as his masterful (way too experienced) sign throwing, will go far in life.  He turned sign dancing into an art form, let me tell you.  You couldn't read what it said, you didn't care what it said.  He must have been a baton twirler in his childhood, or something.  It was mesmerizing.   And I won't ever be able to forget the crazy Santa-bearded bicycle-shorts-wearing too-large-for-those-shorts old man during the local elections.  He was everywhere.  I'm serious.  At the time, I would drive different ways to work depending on the traffic flow, but never failed to allow him to awkwardly wave and shout at me as I attempted to innocently passed unnoticed.  He reeeeally cared about the person who was running for the school board, or whatever it was he was campaigning for.  I forgave him for his stalkerish nature and ill-fitting attire because of his commitment to his cause.

If only I could be humble enough to walk out there with costume/sign in hand and wave it for all the world to see and dance like a buffoon.  One day, maybe.  I'm also exceptionally pleased to report that, just now, when i typed "sign dancing" into google, although I was a little sad I wasn't the first person to ever call them that, not only do people know what sign dancers are, there is a website.  With videos.  LOVE IT.