A gaggle of ceramic geese have landed in the Village of New Paltz and continue to enlarge their porch-dwelling and front-stoop-sitting flock. These geese all have distinct personalities, names and backstories: Clive the Barrister, for one, is said to be a Rhodes Scholar from England, just visiting on Aletta Vett’s front stairs while finishing a dissertation at SUNY New Paltz. In fact, all of the geese on Prospect Street were adorned in graduation caps in honor of the commencement ceremonies this past May.
More recently, the flock was invited to a neighborhood brunch prior to marching in the annual Hudson Valley Pride Parade and Festival that took place this past Saturday in downtown New Paltz. “We wanted to have a Pride party,” said Cari DeLong, who lives on Prospect Street with her husband and two children and is the inspiration behind the recent porch-goose presence that has taken over the neighborhood. “We invited everyone on the street to bring their goose and dress them in their very best Pride outfit for a casual brunch before the parade.”
All of the geese turned up at the brunch and marched proudly in their rainbow flags and glittered skirts, festive toupées and bedazzled shirts and sunglasses. In fact, just days before the Pride Parade and Festival, a goose whisperer must have come in the night or in stealth mode during the day and adorned the resident geese with rainbow-flowered leis.
So, how did these geese start to populate a village street? When she was a young girl growing up in a small town in western Michigan, near the lake, DeLong’s grandmother had a front-porch goose that she would dress up for “birthdays, holidays, events, seasons or no reason at all.” she explained. “We just loved it.”
According to DeLong, having a porch goose in rural Michigan was quite common, though not in the Northeast. “I was talking to some co-workers, and one of them who was from the Midwest knew exactly what I was talking about. But here, no one has heard of it.”
Because the goose gave her so much joy as a child, DeLong decided to bring the tradition to her own house for her family to enjoy. “I thought it would be fun to get us a goose, and as I talked with some of the neighbors about it, some of them were intrigued and wanted to get one too!”
DeLong found the goose she was looking for at Joann Fabrics in Kingston, and then some more in Poughkeepsie. Eventually, she said, the demand for porch geese on Prospect Street became so popular that she bought them all out online.
Her goose is named Anita, and prior to the Pride March, was dressed in a traditional Quinceañera embroidered dress. Across the street is a goose with a yellow rain slicker and matching rainhat with rubber boots; and then there is a hipster goose with long grey hair, a ukulele and a tie-dye shirt, whose name is Jerry Gooseia.
“Most people ask for one, but I’ve heard of neighbors surprising one another and gifting a goose,” DeLong noted. As residents of Prospect Street, we came home one day to find a goose wearing a bathing suit and goggles, in honor of our swim-loving family. Getting “goosed” is an exciting feeling, and it’s fun to think of a neighbor and their personality or job or passion and surprise them with a goose dressed in something that reflects their personality.
Mark Eisenhandler and Deb Healy, owners of the purple house on the corner of Prospect and John Street that is known for its stunning gardens, with a profusion of flowers that bloom continuously from late spring to early fall, have a goose with a felt overalls, a garden hat, a trowel and a ceramic pot and flower in hand (or wing). Another Prospect Street family has a porch goose wearing a sequined dress, fairy wings and a wand that gives off an air of magical surrealism.
DeLong discovered an entire porch-goose world on Etsy — the e-commerce site devoted to handmade art, jewelry and crafts — that offered a wide array of clothing and outfits specifically created for ceramic geese, including crocheted polka-dotted bikinis and firefighter outfits, as well as Pilgrims, patriotic and peace-themed costumes. However, she chooses to frequent secondhand shops and thrift stores for Anita’s wardrobe and when she’s in the market for a specific look to “goose” someone. “We go to Twice Blessed all the time,” she said, referring to the thrift store located at the New Paltz Reformed Church education building on Huguenot Street. “They know us now and say, ‘You’re back for your goose outfits!’”
Currently, DeLong’s mother is visiting from Michigan, and already fast at work creating a housedress outfit for her goose that includes a terrycloth bathrobe, hair made from yarn and plastic curlers.
What’s wild is how the geese are spreading. Each day there seems to be a new one on a front stoop or porch step, and there’s always lots of excited talk about the new goose on the street or a change of costume that an older goose has made or, like this past Saturday, a goose get-together for bagels and coffee before they flew off towards Main Street and Hasbrouck Park to show off their Pride.
“It’s such a simple thing, but it brings a lot of joy,” said DeLong. “It’s just a great way to stay in touch and connect with one another. And as silly as it sounds, it’s something that’s light and fun and brings people together, and I think that’s something we really need right now.”
Where will the geese fly next?
Join the family! 
