ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – There’s something seriously silly happening at one downtown Albuquerque intersection, and KRQE News 13 got to the bottom of it.
Recently, people have been spotted doing incredibly silly, funny and strange walks across and near the intersection of Lead and 2nd.
“Jaunty, long strides, definitely…penguin-y,” Josh Stuyvesant says, describing what he’s seen. “Wriggly, and, uh, sometimes occasionally spider-like.”
Stuyvesant is a printer’s apprentice at sign shop ‘A Good Sign’ at the southwest corner of the intersection and a he has the answer as to what’s happening.
About a week ago, his boss, Tami Abts, installed signs on the sea foam-colored building. They have no text, only an image of a man in a bowler hat crossing the street with a ridiculously wide stride.
Sounds familiar?
The signs reference the 1970’s Monty Python sketch, “The Ministry of Silly Walks,” in which a British bowler hat-bearing government employee is tasked with creating silly walks.
So far, Stuyvesant says, he’s watched people stop, point and giggle at the signs. Others don’t seem to get the reference, and some don’t notice them.
However, “Once in a while, you get a silly walker out there and it makes your day,” he says.
Of course, Stuyvesant, himself steps out for a silly walk occasionally.
He says his boss, Abts, just wants to remind people that it’s fun to live, work and play in downtown Albuquerque.
“My heart feels full, it’s just… it’s just nice to see people taking life a little bit less seriously,” he says.
Abts plans to keep the signs up, and is considering installing a camera for the specific purpose of seeing what other silly walks people come up with when she’s not looking.
