Christmas Season Starts Now!

Some may think the Christmas season starts when the calendar changes to the month of December. Others may believe the season starts right after the dishes are cleared from the Thanksgiving table. And nowadays some want to start stringing up lights right after Halloween. But for us kids growing up on that old familiar street not so far away called Flamingo, the Christmas season always started with riding a pink pig.

No, we didn’t go out in our backyard to play with our pet pig. That would be silly. I know this for a fact because when we asked Dad could we get a pet pig he said, “A pig would be a silly thing to have as a pet.” But our request may have been the very reason why we took a trip each year to ride a pink pig downtown.

A long, long time ago, the season could only start when we rode a pink pig around the ceiling of Rich’s department store located in middle of downtown Atlanta. Now this may seem strange if you were not a child in the late 50’s and 60’s and didn’t live in Atlanta, Georgia, but for those of us who did, riding a pink pig around the ceiling of the department store to start off the season was a yearly tradition. That is until they moved it outside and onto the roof. I’ll explain.

In 1956, Rich’s installed a monorail around the ceiling of its huge downtown department store as a store promotion. Around 1959, they painted it pink, named it Priscilla, and the “Pink Pig” was born. For years, kids delighted in riding Priscilla the pink pig and looking down upon the store below. I was one of those kids. Mom only went to Rich’s to shop around Christmas time, so that’s why I associated riding Priscilla with the start of the season – until her brother joined her up on the roof.

In 1965, the monorail was disassembled and moved to the roof. Once on the roof, the monorail was converted into a train ride with one important change. To delight of the children, a second pink pig named Percival was added. I can remember riding both of those pigs until I was nine or ten years old. After our rides, we’d peek over the roof’s edge to see the giant Christmas tree and the city skyline all lit up. To us kids, there was nothing better to signal the official start to the season and that Christmas would soon be upon us.

Sadly, in 1991, the downtown store finally closed, but the memory and joy that came from riding those pink pigs are forever. And, if you’re like me and really want to start your Christmas season off right this year, all is not lost. The ride found a new home. You can visit it at the Atlanta History Center, but one word of caution: If you try to sit in one of those small seats, you may find it really, really hard to get back out. 

The experience may turn your “Ho, Ho, Ho” into “Ow, Ow, Ow!” Not that I’m admitting anything…