By Rebecca Kanan
Congratulations in 3-D. Happy Birthday in moos, baas, or vrooms. Be My Valentine in multiple hearts.
Welcome to Cards in Yards, a new service and brainchild of two Joplin women who are out to “put a smile on people’s faces.”
Kim Kilgore and Barbara Manning, neighbors for two years, suddenly sprouted the lawn-based artistic message business in May and were putting their signs in yards less than a month later.
“I was drinking my coffee and reading the newspaper one morning and something I saw in the paper triggered this idea,” said Manning. “I called (Kim) and said, ‘Here’s what we should do.’”
After an Internet search and a few phone calls, Kilgore and Manning were in business.
The business is messages on signboards and decorations fastened to wire stakes that suit most occasions, from first birthdays to graduation.
They spent a few days coming up with a name that fit. They tried “grassy greetings” and some other choice appellations before hitting on Cards in Yards while conversing long-distance on the phone.
“We’ve been trying to find a local company to make the yard decorations,” said Kilgore, because they are currently ordering from outside suppliers.
The designs are versatile and can suit the client’s imagination. The duo has used cows, pigs, monkeys, trains, race cars, and other kid-themed decorations, with appropriate sayings, for childrens’ birthdays, or buzzards with the humorous saying “you old buzzard” for the over-a-certain-age group.
“We go out early in the morning or late the evening before, so we prefer to do it together,” said Manning. “The idea is to surprise the recipient,” to have them wake up to the greeting when they get the paper or leave for school.
The women say they try to let the neighbors in on the effort so that no one thinks they are trespassing when they are “planting” the signs and decorations.
Even their children come out and help put together the yard cards. And the two ladies deliver to surrounding communities, as well. Each “card” is rented on a one-day basis. The recipient receives a packet at their door with information on who gave the gift, along with a business card for the company.
The business owners are both transplants here, Kilgore from Texas and Manning from Arizona. Both have owned or still work at small businesses. However, this is a first of its kind partnership for the two.
“It’s a happy business,” said Kilgore. “The types of occasions that people want cards for are happy ones.”
Much of their business is Web-based; they take orders and get them paid for at their Internet site, www.cardsinyards.net. They also drive their vehicles with decals of their phone numbers (624-0526 and 483-4792) on the back windows.
They sealed one deal from the car advertisement: a bank and real estate agency combined to order “Welcome to Your Home” yard cards for new home owners.
“Nobody else around here has anything like this,” said Manning.
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