Yesterday was April 1st, a day for tricks and a little fun. I didn’t do anything this year, but it got me thinking about some of the ones I’ve pulled over the years. There have been a few, but one still stands out as a classic.
This goes back maybe 10 years at Heart Pond.
At the time, the COSS Facebook page was a very different animal. Small audience, very local, very focused on what was happening right in town. No big reach, no viral expectations, just people who cared about what was going on in their backyard.
We were a few months into restoring Heart Pond, and it had been in rough shape. And I mean rough. Tall grass and weeds waist-high, old wooden structures half falling apart, trash on the beach, bottles in the water, mattresses in the woods, and even an old vending machine at one point. It had that reputation where people just kind of avoided it.
Then the community stepped in.
Before the town picked up the majority of the work, there was a massive cleanup effort from residents. It took about a year and a 40-yard dumpster, but we got it done. Slowly but surely the place started to come back. People returned. Kids on the beach again. Families walking around. You could feel the shift.
And that is what made it the perfect setup.
Heart Pond is controlled by a small earthen dam. Calling it a “dam” is generous. It is basically a low structure where boards get added in the summer to raise the water a bit and taken out in the winter to drop it and extend its life. If you walk by it and are not looking for it, you would never even know it is there.
Which means most people had no idea how it worked.
Now here is where it gets interesting.
People remembered what happened at Freeman Lake when the dam gave way and the water dropped. That story stuck. So even though Heart Pond works completely differently, if you mention “dam problem” and “water level dropping,” there is just enough truth in the world for people to go… “Wait… could that actually happen?”
That was the hook.
So now we have a pond with a rough past, a dam no one really understands, a real-world example floating around in people’s memory, and April 1st landing on a weekend when people are actually around.
That is what I call a green light.
I put up a post saying vandals had returned. That they had broken into the “dam control building” and opened the gates, draining Heart Pond.
Just to be clear, there is no control building. There are no gates. And even if there were, you could not drain the pond that way. Fully open, you might drop it a few feet.
But I didn’t stop there.
I added that several boats were now stuck out in the mud and that it was critical they be dug out before they were damaged. We needed volunteers. Bring shovels.
Then I hit post.
And instead of sitting at home watching comments roll in, I went down to the beach. If this was going to work, I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
At first, nothing.
Then a car pulls in.
Someone gets out, walks down, and stands there looking at the water like something is off, but they can’t quite figure out what. Then they leave.
Then another car.
Then two more.
People start walking out onto the beach, scanning the lake… which is full… looking for these “stuck boats.” You could see them trying to make it make sense. Looking left, looking right, stepping closer to the water like maybe they just weren’t seeing it yet.
And then you could actually see the moment it clicked.
You almost get that pause… the head tilt… and then the look.
“Oh… it’s April 1st.”
One guy just started laughing right there on the beach and said out loud, “I knew it… I knew something was off.” Another person pulled out their phone and immediately started calling someone, probably to say, “Don’t come down here with a shovel.” A couple of people just shook their heads and smiled like they had been caught in the act.
And then it turned into what it should be. People laughing, pointing at the water, and talking about how they almost fell for it.
That was the part I was most nervous about. You don’t want to make someone carry a shovel across town and have them be mad about it. Thankfully, everyone took it in stride and had a good laugh once they figured it out.
I let it run from about 10 AM until the traditional noon cutoff. Right at noon, I posted the reveal.
Online it blew up. For that time, for that page, it was our first real “viral” moment. Comments, shares, and people tagging friends who they knew had probably fallen for it.
No one got hurt. No damage done. But people did learn a bit more about how the pond actually works, even if it started with a completely fake story.
And for a few hours, it gave the town something to laugh about.
Could I get away with that today? Not a chance. I would probably be explaining myself in a meeting before lunch. But 10 to 15 years ago, things were a little different. The town had more of that rural feel, and people were a bit more willing to roll with something like this.
I will say this, though.
I owe you one.
Furthermore, I will commit to something on that scale again for 2027. If you have ideas, send them my way.
Just… maybe don’t bring a shovel next time.
See you next April 1st.