Once the subject of ridicule, plastic flamingos now official mascot of Parma

PARMA, Ohio – Parma’s association with plastic flamingos once made the city the laughingstock of late-night television audiences across Northeast Ohio.

Now, the relationship has been cemented in an official government document declaring the pink lawn ornament the city’s official mascot -- and it was all Parma’s idea.

“The script has flipped,” Parma Mayor Tim DeGeeter said during a special ceremony on Tuesday near the flamingo exhibit at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Members of Parma City Council, which passed the resolution unanimously at Monday night’s meeting, watched as DeGeeter -- sporting a hot-pink polo beneath his blue suit jacket – signed it, with a pink ink pen.

The declaration comes as the city prepares to make the bird front-and-center at next year’s bicentennial celebration