When I #Homeschooled Charlie and Suzzane I was always looking for things that would capture there attention and one of those things was new and unusual #Holidays we could celebrate. I wish I had knew about Chicken Boy Day because this is something both Charlie and David would have liked not only learning about but to see in person.

Chicken Boy Day is celebrated every year on September 1, and it honors one of the most unusual roadside attractions I have ever come across: a 22-foot-tall fiberglass statue with the body of a man and the head of a chicken.

Yes, you read that correctly. A giant chicken-headed man. And suddenly I understood why this holiday caught my attention. Chicken Boy isn’t just a funny-looking statue. He has a history, and once I learned that history, I found myself thinking about something else entirely.

I started thinking about the way families used to travel. Load Up the Station Wagon! Take me back to the old days for just a minute. Picture Mom and Dad getting the kids ready for a road trip.

Everybody is climbing into the station wagon. The cooler is packed. Somebody has a pillow. Somebody else is already asking, “Are we there yet?” There may not be GPS telling you exactly what you’re going to see ten miles from now.

There may not be a smartphone in everyone’s hand. Instead, you looked out the window. You watched the signs. You watched for interesting buildings. You looked for the big things standing beside the road. You would play the license plate game.

And sometimes you would see something so strange that everybody in the car wanted to know what it was. That’s the magic of a good road trip. You don’t always know what you’re going to find.

And Then There Was Route 66 and that’s where Chicken Boy took my mind. Route 66 became famous not only because it carried people across the country, but because of the communities, businesses, signs, restaurants, motels, attractions, and unusual roadside landmarks that became part of the journey.

Families traveling the road weren’t simply going from one destination to another. They were seeing America along the way. And some of the things they saw were downright quirky. Giant statues. Big signs. Unusual buildings.

Restaurants designed to catch your attention. Roadside attractions that made you pull over and ask, “What in the world is that?” I believe Chicken Boy fits right into that tradition and so do Charlie and David.

Chicken Boy began as advertising for a fried-chicken restaurant in downtown Los Angeles in the late 1960s. He stood on the roof of the restaurant, towering above the street. He eventually became a recognizable Los Angeles landmark.

Kinda like the big Cow that stands on one of our restaurants in Haltom City or the Policeman and Marylin on another restaurant in my Home Town. That brings people to our City to see them.

In 1984, the restaurant closed and Chicken Boy was taken down. For more than two decades, this giant piece of Los Angeles history sat in storage. I could just see

In 1984, the restaurant closed and Chicken Boy was taken down. For more than two decades, this giant piece of Los Angeles history sat in storage. I could just see David and Charlie saying I will take it.

Then Artist and designer Amy Inouye worked to save Chicken Boy rather than allow this unusual piece of Los Angeles history to disappear. In 2007, he was restored and placed on the roof of Future Studio in Highland Park. (Los Angeles Times)

Today, Chicken Boy stands at 5558 N. Figueroa Street in Highland Park, where he has once again become a neighborhood landmark. And I have to wonder about all the people who have driven past him.

How many people have seen Chicken Boy up close? What did they think? Did they know his story? Did they stop for a picture? Did their children point out the window and ask why there was a giant chicken-headed man standing on a building? Did they laugh? Did they think he was wonderfully weird? Or did they simply keep driving?

Sometimes we don’t know — and that’s okay but one of the biggest things I want to remember from Chicken Boy Day is this: Sometimes we don’t know. And that’s okay. Isnt it?

More times than not, we come across holidays, traditions, people, places, foods, inventions, and historical events we’ve never heard of before. That is the fun part of discovering unique #Holidays.

The important thing isn’t pretending we already know. The important thing is being willing to find out. I could have looked at “Chicken Boy Day” and simply assumed it was a day about chickens. Instead, I researched it.

And I learned about a giant fiberglass statue, a Los Angeles restaurant, advertising history, roadside attractions, Route 66, preservation, and a woman who worked to save something she believed was worth saving.

That’s a pretty good lesson from a holiday I had never even heard of. And it reminds me of something I want to pass along to my friends and family: Before you teach it, make sure you know the facts. Don’t teach the guess. Teach the discovery.

Now Chicken Boy has me wondering about something else. What is the strangest attraction in your town? Maybe it’s a giant statue you’ve driven past for years. Maybe it’s an unusual building. Maybe there’s an old sign nobody pays attention to anymore.

Maybe there’s a giant animal, a strange piece of artwork, a historic roadside business, or something that makes absolutely no sense until you learn the story behind it. And maybe you’ve never even stopped to ask.

So here’s our family challenge. Get out and look around your own community. Take a Sunday drive that can happen any day of the week. Look for something quirky. Take a picture. Then find out what it is. Who put it there? Why? How long has it been there? Is there a story behind it? You might be surprised by what you discover.

And if you want to take the idea one step further, imagine that you’re creating your very own roadside attraction. What would it be? Maybe you would make a giant frog. Maybe a cowboy riding a chicken. Maybe a huge cup of sweet tea. Maybe something completely ridiculous that would make people slow down and say, “We’ve got to see what that is!”

Give your attraction a name. Decide where it would go. Create its story. Then think about why people would want to stop and see it. You could even draw it, build a miniature version, make it out of cardboard, or turn the idea into something you can eat. And that brings me right back to Chicken Boy.

Of course, once I saw Chicken Boy, I couldn’t help but think about food. You could make a giant sugar cookie and decorate it as your own silly Chicken Boy-inspired character. Give him a chicken head. Give him a human body. Add a funny outfit. Maybe put a bucket in his hand. Then give your creation a name.

Take a picture and tell us the story behind your character. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just needs to be fun. Because that’s really what I think Chicken Boy represents. Sometimes the things that seem strange at first become the things we remember.

I started this holiday thinking I was going to teach my family something about chickens. Instead, Chicken Boy took me somewhere completely different. He took me to Los Angeles. He took me to Route 66. Both places I want to see one day that are on my #BucketList

He took me back to those old family road trips when Mom and Dad loaded everybody into the station wagon and headed out to see what they could find. And he reminded me that the best discoveries aren’t always planned.

Sometimes you just have to get in the car. Look out the window. And pay attention. So now I’m thinking… Looks like it’s time for a Sunday drive. Let’s go see what quirky attractions we can find around our own town.

Because maybe the next Chicken Boy isn’t in Los Angeles. Maybe he’s right here in our own backyard. Maybe we’ve driven past him a hundred times. And maybe it’s time we finally stopped to find out his story.

Have you ever seen Chicken Boy? Have you visited him in Los Angeles? Or have you ever discovered a quirky attraction that made you stop, stare, laugh, take a picture, or wonder about its story? I’d love to hear about it.

#INeverHeardOfChickenBoyDay #ChickenBoyDay #GreatfulMoments

Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates