A Christmas Story Hydrant - Ardmore, OK
N 34° 10.197 W 097° 08.317
14S E 671562 N 3782566
An odd-looking lamp -- "Fragile" suggests that it must be Italian -- is the subject on a newly-repainted fire hydrant in the median where 3rd Ave SW interacts with H St SW, Ardmore, OK.
Waymark Code: WM12ZEA
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 08/13/2020
Views: 0
In 2019,
Create Ardmore and the Ardmore Fire Department worked together on a beautification effort in which fire hydrants in the downtown Cultural Arts District -- a comparatively small number compared to the over 1600 hydrants that the Ardmore FD has to maintain throughout the area! -- would be given the glamour treatment. As the Ardmore FD requires that the hydrants have a specific color cap -- red, orange, green or blue -- to indicate how much water pressure each tank has behind it, they did the priming work, leaving local volunteers to use their imaginations and minimal guidelines in the effort. This one is notable in that it is not only a new fixture, but it appears to be a completely new hydrant at this location: Google Maps does not show a hydrant here previously.
Of course, the theme is Mr. Parker's beloved reading lamp from "A Christmas Story", with a woman's leg in a fishnet stocking, and the orange cap doubling as a lampshade. Note the black fringe around the perimeter of the cap, and the white "packing material." Most of hydrant is light pink, with some brown detail on the caps, as it is the box in which the lamp was shipped. There are tags with "Fragile", "This Side Up", and "Made in Italy", along with the "18p" postage on the front outlet cap and a globe sticker over "Fragile".
Almost perfect, one nitpick: The matching package down below, made of brick with a blue ribbon, should say "Red Ryder" in red, and not "Red Rider". "You'll shoot your eye out!"