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Rt. 42 Reindeer a hit on Facebook
(by Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor - September 07, 2010)
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 With school back in session, a bus scene was a natural pick for the Rt. 42 reindeer.
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—“My husband is a trucker. Now, I can see what he laughs about every week.”
—“I’ve been insisting to my family that the deer change positions every time we’ve driven by, and no one believed me until now.”
These are just two of the many comments fans have posted on the new Rt. 42 Reindeer Facebook page. The page celebrates the creativity of Rusty Smith, a Plain City area resident who has been arranging grapevine reindeer into different funny scenes in his front yard nearly every week for the past 20 months.
Rusty and his wife, Tammy, have become accustomed to semi truck drivers honking, school busses slowing down, and people laughing as they drive past their home at 8225 U.S. Route 42 N. (near Tolles Career and Technical Center).
Now, with the Facebook page, people don’t have to drive by to enjoy the latest reindeer games.
“We have family in Georgia, a nephew in Iraq and friends in Columbus who always want to know what the deer are up to,” Tammy said of the reason they created the online presence.
It turns out, family and friends aren’t the only ones who enjoy the page.
“The first day we had it up, we had 200 fans,” Tammy said. That was in late July. Now, over 1,500 people follow the page, on which the Smiths post pictures of each week’s reindeer scene.
“Rusty wasn’t sure if people were getting bored with the whole thing or not. We thought that after awhile, we might just be those crazy people with the deer in their yard.”
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 Thanks to this sign and word of mouth, the new Facebook page has nearly 1,600 followers.
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Comments on Facebook suggest otherwise. One person wrote that they take the long way to church, just for a chance to see the deer. Another said the deer are the reason they take Route 42 rather than the interstate on their way to Columbus.
A commuter from Dayton, whose route goes by the Smiths’ house, said he and his carpool buddies were worried when they saw the deer in a heap for a couple of weeks this summer. As it turns out, Rusty was preoccupied with a broken mower, but as soon as it was fixed, was back at his front lawn fun. The commuter was glad and thanked Rusty for “making our drive fun.”
The roadside attraction started during Christmas season 2008 as a joke between Rusty and one of his neighbors. The Smiths had put up reindeer as decorations. After a storm blew them over, the neighbor called to say the deer looked like they were frolicking. Rusty started rearranging the deer for the neighbor’s amusement. It soon became an attraction for everyone who drove by.
The deer have picnicked, water skied and played hide-and-seek. They’ve recreated the World War II flag-raising scene from Iwo Jima and strapped on backpacks for back-to-school. Rusty said he’s far from running out of ideas and welcomes suggestions from fans.
He also has welcomed unsolicited donations of more deer. The original family of two has now grown to five “adult” deer and three little ones. Some came anonymously in the middle of the night. Others were more directly donated.
“A gentleman’s mother-in-law was moving into an elder care facility and wanted her two grapevine deer to go somewhere. The guy said, ‘I have the perfect place,’ ” Tammy said.
Rusty changes the scene every Wednesday or Thursday. Check them out online or in person.
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