A 1980s midwestern trend is back: The porch goose

Melanie Priehs says her job as a part time concrete artist kind of fell into her lap in 2019, when she purchased a neglected statuary in Michigan an...

Melanie Priehs says her job as a part-time concrete artist kind of "fell into her lap” in 2019, when she purchased a neglected statuary in Michigan and began learning how to use the various molds and equipment to make animals and other figures. In the last couple of years, sales of one animal have gone through the roof: Everybody wants a goose.

Life-size decorative goose statues for the lawn, garden or porch aren’t a new idea; they were popular in the 1980s, particularly in the Midwest. Now they’re making a big comeback as younger people flock to the trend, possibly as an antidote to uncertain times.

"It’s a kind of escape from everything we’re dealing with every day, everything in the news cycle,” says Heather Hintz, the head of e-commerce at Gaggleville, a subsidiary of Midwest retailer Miles Kimball, which has advertised the geese in its catalogue for decades. "This is just something that brightens people’s day.”

Some have inherited geese from elderly relatives, while others buy them new from local concrete artists like Priehs. A plastic blow-mold version is available from Gaggleville. And it’s not just a matter of parking a plain goose in front of your home; a big part of the trend includes dressing the birds. A quick online search turns up thousands of photos and videos on social media, with geese dressed in an array of costumes and seasonal attire.

"We talk all day long in our team’s chat about who said something about porch geese on social media, or what we saw on TikTok,” Hintz says. "It’s something new almost every hour. You can’t even keep up with it.”