Standing out in the crowd

Even at the height of the election campaign with signs seemingly everywhere, Tommy Fleger’s homemade signs always stood out.
“A lot of people were talking change, and reform…and I feel like change starts with yourself and how you do things,” he said.
“I wanted to show that I could do things differently and there’s more than one way to go about doing things,” said Fleger.
He created five different and unique styles of campaign signs. While they didn’t get him elected to council, they certainly made him stand out.
In creating his campaign signs, Fleger used everything from paint and canvas, to stuffed toys, to an old toilet destined for the landfill.
Fleger also ran in the 2013 election campaign and said that he felt the pressure to improve on his signs this time around.
“After doing the 2013, I think everyone was expecting some cool signs,” he said.
He didn’t disappoint, Fleger had retro movie posters featuring his pet pig penny, ‘toy’tem poles inspired from a vacation to Haida Gwaii, B.C., spinning pirate sails that matched the theme of his entry in the Country Fair parade.
In creating the signs, Fleger felt he could have more impact with one well-placed custom sign than a forest of traditional signs.
The best example of this and possibly the sign that resonated most with voters this year was his Tommy Flushes toilet sign he put up near Chestermere Utilities Inc.
He was helping a friend takes some garbage to the dump and was inspired when he saw the toilet.
“He dumped a toilet and I though, hey I could use that,” said Fleger.
While that sign may have been best received, Fleger’s most enjoyed painting the retro movie poster signs.
Using custom brushes made from his pig’s shed hair, Fleger would go out on the lake on nice days and just paint from his boat.
“I liked being able to go out and just…sit there and paint, that was fun,” he said.
One disadvantage of his signs was that they took longer to make. He started work on them back in January after he decided to take a second run at council.
People who enjoyed his signs will be disappointed to hear that this was Fleger final campaign. He’s not planning to run again.