Mascot to a Great Cause
Pink’s generally not my color of choice. But on a spring day at Pirates Cove Dock Bar, a girl’s gotta say, why not put on a pig suit?
I am the Pigs & Pearls mascot: a five-foot-five-inch bipedal pig — pink of course — with a white belly. It’s not a sight you’ll see for long, kind of like a shooting star.
The real draws of Anthony Clarke and Michael Galway’s Pigs & Pearls fundraiser are Chef Steve Hardison’s awesome barbecue, fresh-shucked oysters and the spring reopening of the dock bar. Plus the virtuous satisfaction of raising money for the West/Rhode Riverkeeper.
Riverkeeper Jeff Holland’s mission of sustainability is a cause near-and-dear to my heart. Growing up during the DDT plight of the 1970s when the pesticide destroyed the viability of raptor eggs, I believed that I’d never see our national bird alive and in the wild. As I grew older and my confidence dwindled, so did raptor numbers … Until concerned people turned that national tragedy around.
Today I can explore the Bay shoreline to catch sight not only of bald eagles, but also osprey, heron, foxes and all the creatures that live alongside us. I can eat steamed crabs, rockfish and oysters freshly caught from our waters. None of that would be possible without the cooperation of scientists, environmentalists, business owners — and ordinary people like you and me.
