A newly-formed satirical social media page has caught the attention of locals and even the city government itself.
A Facebook account, titled The City of Magnolia Arkansas since Dec. 3 has posted more than a dozen farcical public notices and news updates, ranging in subject from the town’s restaurants and current street conditions to liquor licenses and gambling. Reminiscent of The Onion, a former print and current online parody national news publication, the Facebook site has posted some not-so-subtle and humorous accounts of local happenings.
Similar in look to the official Magnolia government page — which is titled City of Magnolia, AR — the satirical account uses a circular Magnolia Blossom seal as its profile picture with a photo of a Christmas season Columbia County Courthouse as a background. The parody account on Wednesday distinguished itself as a sarcastic alternative to the city after adding “Rogue” before its name in the seal. The site is also categorized as “just for fun.”
The site’s postings have been a hit. In less than two weeks, the page has racked up more than 1,500 likes and 1,500 followers — numbers that exceed of the city’s official news and information page — and more are steadily added.
The most popular satirical posts involve city streets and institutions.
In a Dec. 11 update, a photo displaying a gnarled, partially-milled E. Main Street in advance of its repaving and stated: “There is currently construction on Main Street. It is being resurfaced to include ATV lanes. Magnolia will be the first city in the state with lanes dedicated to 4-wheeler traffic. Beat that, El Dorado.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the posting had 116 comments, 420 likes, and had been shared 633 times.
The overwhelming majority of comments were positive, indicating they were in on the obvious joke. But some weren’t.
“The fact that half the people think that this is the real City of Magnolia page makes it even funnier,” said one comment.
A 9:43 a.m. Wednesday posting from the satirical account caused a bit of a stir, when it stated that the local Boys and Girls Club would begin serving alcohol at upcoming sporting events.
“A liquor license has been granted to the Boys and Girls Club of Magnolia,” the posting said. “Concession stands will be permitted to sell hard Icees beginning January 1. Funds raised by alcohol sales will be used to update the club’s bleachers and provide much needed equipment and building maintenance. Tee-ball is gonna be lit this year, y’all.”
Some of the 100-plus reactions expressed shock to the news.
The local club, through a Facebook posting, on Wednesday issued the following:
“There is a Facebook page titled ‘The City of Magnolia AR’ that is putting out fake news that the Boys & Girls Club has acquired a liquor license and will be serving “hard” Icees this year during baseball season. This is not accurate and the city is aware and has reported this site.”
Although the account manager is not publicly stated, and its provided website link drives traffic directly to a YouTube music video for Rick Astley’s 1987 chart-topping “Never Gonna Give You Up,” the account itself does interact with other commenters and even the city’s official page itself.
On Wednesday, the city government made the public aware of the account, after it posted, “Please note that there is a fake page on FB [sic] acting as the city. We have reported the page to FB and hope to have this issue resolved soon.”
In a sly response, the city parody page posted, “You might be tempted to go to the fake page and read what all the fuss is about, but don’t. It is garbage.”
Spoof municipal accounts have been catching like internet wildfire in recent weeks. The trend, according to a Dec. 11 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette report, was first seen in Arkansas around the Fayetteville. Besides Magnolia’s satirical page, El Dorado now has one, as do many other towns in the state including Springdale, Waldron and Bella Vista.
A recent battle between the faux City of Bentonville and City of Rogers accounts, though, had many wondering whether the light-hearted trend was about to take a turn for the worse, when a “fight” was scheduled to take place around Dec. 1 at a nearby water tower. The event, which over 6,000 said they would attend, actually turned out to be a charitable clothing, toy, and canned food drive.
As of Thursday, Magnolia’s satire page was still reporting the news with its own humorous twist.
With a picture of a rain-soaked, brightly colored median around the local square, a caption read, “Due to the wild popularity of our new, vibrant green curbs, there is a plan in place to paint the curbs and sidewalks on the exterior sides of the square bright red. The festive move has been delayed by rain, but should begin next week. Anyone interested in working on the project will be paid in hot cocoa. Background check and drug test required.”
Yesterday alone, the account gained over 200 new followers.