A Monifieth family have appeared on US television news after starting a quarantine rock caterpillar.
Lyn McWilliam and her daughters Alex and Nicole – who come from the Angus town, but now live in the US state of Texas – appeared on the bulletin after their painted tribute to key workers caught the imagination.
The family had been inspired by the 2,000-painted pebble caterpillar in Monifieth, which has been a huge hit with families over lockdown.
Producers at ABC-owned community news channel Localish broadcast a four-minute report for the network, featuring the McWilliam family and their own version of the lockdown tribute.
The TV report wound its way back to Angus via the Our Monifieth Facebook page.
Lyn McWilliam posted: “Just an update on the Houston / Monifieth rock caterpillar. This was aired on a television channel here in Houston. Putting fabulous Monifieth on the map.”
She said in the bulletin. “I think we are all still in shock that it has gone so worldwide. To bring something over from Scotland makes us feel that there is a little part of Scotland that is here.”
Joanne Lindsay and her daughters Megan and Olivia started Monifieth’s original lockdown caterpillar in May.
Alex said in the report:“We’re from a little town in Scotland called Monifieth. These two little girls started it there. We saw it and thought that would be really nice to bring over here and bring the community together.”
The US sisters called their tribute the Quarantine Caterpillar. The family, their friends and other members of the Cypress Creek Lakes community have already laid down more than 800 stones, with the McWilliam sisters aiming to break the 1,000 marker.
Nicole said: “There is nothing really to do just now so giving someone the idea to do something. Even if they just paint one rock that helps a lot making the caterpillar grow.
“We thought that people would love it over here because a lot of people love doing art and they can show off their skills.”
The McWilliam family moved to the US in 2012 for work.
The Monifieth caterpillar was a huge hit over the lockdown period. When hundreds of its stones went missing over a weekend in June the community quickly rallied, tracking down the pebbles and rebuilding it.
