Twentieth Street will be closed intermittently for the FIFA World Cup from June 12 to July 5.
That is, if you believe the latest April Fools prank from Nolan Jones. A sign on his property states that the area around his home, 545 W. 20th St., has been designated as a restricted transit zone for the Algerian National Football team.
This is his fourth year doing an April Fools’ prank, and he said he always tries to make a joke about something in the local news. In this case, it is the World Cup coming this summer and the Algerian team using Lawrence as its base camp.
“I think there’s some folks that may not know that Algeria’s going to be stationed here,” Nolan Jones said. “I’m hoping this gets people talking and thinking and complaining.”
Nolan Jones said he has been planning this joke since January, when rumors started floating that the Algerian team would come to Lawrence. Once he knew it was definitely coming, he ordered a large Algerian flag to display alongside his American one. He had the sign specially made on signs.com.
His wife, Stephanie, said he is always coming up with new, creative ideas.
“He wakes up in the middle of the night and he’s like, ‘I got it. I know what I’m going to do now. I’m changing this,’” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Okay, but it’s 2 in the morning.’”
She said her husband doesn’t take life too seriously, which is something that “a lot of us could learn.” While she’s not a prankster like her husband, she said she’s learned to be a little more lighthearted over the years they’ve been together.
“I remember, when we first met, I was like, ‘Do not, you know, prank me,’” Stephanie Jones said. “He really understood that about me, whereas he has friends, his best friend who lives near San Francisco, I mean, they’re always bantering back and forth.”
The couple’s sign reads, “Expect intermittent road closures,” and Stephanie Jones said that is her favorite part of the prank. She said she hopes some people stop, read it and take what it’s saying to heart.
“He does a great job at getting the wording just right,” she said.
While Nolan Jones said he is not a huge soccer fan, he is excited for the World Cup. He bought tickets for the Curacao versus Ecuador game, and he is volunteering to help soccer fans find the right buses. He also bought a Curacao soccer jersey, which this summer will become the smallest nation with a team that has competed in a World Cup.
“I love the idea, especially in these challenging times, of the world coming together, you know, for something fun and something universal,” Nolan Jones said. “It’s, you know, once in a lifetime for myself and a place like Lawrence or Eudora.”
At the mention of the World Cup, he “lights up like it’s Christmas morning,” his wife said.
Nolan Jones said he hopes Algerian soccer fans come to Eudora, because “If you’re gonna see a little piece of Americana, small town, you know, the real deal… It’s Eudora.”
In the past, he has joked about the Kansas City Chiefs’ football stadium moving to Eudora, plans for a new big cat sanctuary and a second Panasonic location coming to town. Before he came up with this year’s World Cup joke, he wanted to do one about parking for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding.
The big cat sanctuary prank fooled a lot of people that year, and Stephanie Jones said it almost fooled her, too.
“All of a sudden, I’m like, ‘Oh, we could put, you know, those tigers back there,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Stephanie, this is a prank. It’s not even for real,’” she said.
Beyond April Fools’, the Joneses decorate their yard for every holiday. Sometimes they decorate it just for fun, like painting a hay bale that sits in front of their yard. Right now, it looks like Kermit the Frog.
“So many people drive by here,” Stephanie Jones said. “So we want to make it fun for people and families to take pictures by the hay bale.”
Nolan Jones said he tries to make each year’s prank bigger than the last, with the flags being this year’s new addition. He said he already has a vision for next year, but wants to keep it a surprise.
“One, it’s kind of my personality,” Nolan Jones said. “But two, life gets very serious. And for very good reasons, but, you know, every once in a while we got to lighten up a little bit and bring a little joy.”
Reach Bella Waters at [email protected].
