Nolan Jones couldn’t help but interject with chuckles as he described the prank signs he has put in his yard for April Fools’ Day the last two years.
Jones has always been a jokester, he said, and his front-yard pranks have caught the attention of neighbors, gone viral on social media and prompted phone calls from city officials. He doesn’t plan on stopping the friendly tricks anytime soon.
His yard sign this year — a fake announcement for a new big cat sanctuary — spurred interest from neighbors and community members. A Eudora Times Facebook post explaining the April Fools’ joke reached over 23,000 people.
“It’s a good-natured, non-mean way of celebrating April Fools’,” Jones said. “And it’s important, because there’s enough negativity, to do something kind of fun and lighthearted. So this year, I don’t know what prompted me to think of suddenly, like, a big cat reserve, but I thought that might get some attention in a fun way.”
This isn’t his first time turning heads with a prank sign on his front lawn. Last year, Jones capitalized on unease around the development of a $4 billion Panasonic battery plant nearby.
Last year’s sign announced site two of the plant, being built in the Joneses yard. It caused a stir from a couple of his neighbors and others already on edge about the massive development.
Eventually, he received a call from the city about the sign. Jones said they were good sports when he encouraged them to look at the bottom right corner of the sign, where it read “April Fools!” in small text.
This year, his wife Stephanie Jones said the city knew to check for the small April Fools’ tagline on any new signs in their lawn.
On Halloween the year prior, while construction crews worked to build a pond on their property, a sign pointed to the work claiming development of a new Eudora cemetery. Despite the joke falling on the spooky holiday, Jones said the sign still drew concerned passersby.
The reaction from the community has inspired Jones to continue his pranking in the future, but with a good cause in mind.
He said he hopes the pranking will turn attention to the Eudora Giving Garden, which uses sustainable and organic practices to grow food for the community. The project started on Main Street but expanded to land by their house. Both Joneses serve on the board for the garden.
“It’s mostly about educating folks about agriculture in Kansas,” Nolan Jones said. “But they also raise flowers by master gardeners that they distribute to the nursing homes and they’ve raised vegetables in the past for low income as well as the nursing homes and things like that. So they do a lot of great stuff over there.”
The signs cost Jones close to $100 each, but he said the jokes are easily worth the investment. He did feel bad about some children who were disappointed to learn their favorite large cats would not be making an appearance.
“We’ve got a wonderful community here,” he said. “A lot of people are nervous about the growth that’s coming with Panasonic and all that. And I hope we don’t lose that fun, small community kind of feel that something like this generates.”
The perfect April Fools’ Day prank involves a couple of things: It makes people think, is believable and brings a smile, Jones said.
“What I’d think a great April Fools’ joke is, when it’s done and they discover it’s a joke, it brings a smile to their face,” he said. “If it does anything else than that, then it wasn’t a good April Fools’ joke.”
He said he hopes to continue making people smile as they realize the next big development planned for his front yard is, indeed, just another prank.
His plans for next year’s April Fools’ Day?
“Bigger and better.”
Reach reporter Cuyler Dunn at [email protected]
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