The gathering, held Friday outside a rented event hall in a small Arkansas town, was organized by DONG PAC as a response to the children's animated program Poppy Piglet, which last month aired an episode featuring one of the characters, Callie Cat, with two mothers. The episode has since become the focal point of a campaign that escalated earlier in the week when a toy store in a neighboring county was vandalized. Shelving units were overturned. Poppy plushies were torn open, the stuffing pulled out and scattered across the parking lot. Several had been hanged from the store's awning by their necks. No arrests have been made.
At Friday's event, multiple attendees described the toy store incident as a preliminary action. One man, asked to elaborate, said, "You just fucking wait."
Marla Quillen, a DONG PAC candidate for county clerk, had overseen construction of the effigy earlier that afternoon. The figure stood twelve feet tall, built from wood and stuffed fabric and a pink dress sewn together from donated bedsheets. A sign was pinned to the chest, the words "VESSEL OF CORRUPTION" streaked in red paint.
Asked when she had first heard about the episode, Quillen said, "A friend called me. She was crying. She just kept saying, 'They waited until we trusted them.'" Quillen looked at the effigy. "My daughter had a stuffed Poppy Pig she took everywhere. It's sick!" Her whole body was shaking. She took the hoof in both hands and twisted as hard as she could. The joint cracked and the hoof spun loose, dangling. She stared at it, breathing hard. "Now I have to fix that," she said. She let go and her hands stayed in the air a moment, still trembling. "I threw it away while she was sleeping. She cried for days. She still asks where it went. I just tell her it's gone. I don't tell her why. She's three."
Randy McClintock, candidate for school board, delivered the longest remarks of the evening. He spoke without notes, holding a stuffed Poppy Piglet toy in one hand. McClintock has made deregulating Arkansas schools the central theme of his campaign, arguing that children need less institutional protection and more exposure to the world as it is.
"First you introduce the pig. The pig is soft and sweet. The pig is placed in a home that looks like any child's home. Then you wait. You let the child form an attachment. You let the child ask for the toy. You let the child learn the name. And then, once the attachment is secure, you drop in the gay cats. You don't announce the change. You just present it. The child does not question it because the child trusts the pig."
He unbuttoned his collar. He looked down at the toy in his hand.
"That's not Saturday morning fun time. That's indoctrination. The trust is built for the purpose of being used."
He turned and threw the stuffed pig into a trashcan near the stage. It landed with a soft thud. Several people in the crowd applauded.
At this time a reporter asked about a prior legal matter involving minors, the details of which remain under seal. McClintock turned his head toward the reporter. His expression tightened.
"What does that have to do with anything," he said.
The reporter did not respond.
"No, seriously," McClintock said. "I'm up here talking about what's being shown to children without their parents' knowledge, and you want to make this about me. That's not reporting. That's misdirection. You're doing exactly what they do. Change the subject. Attack the messenger. I know how this works."
The reporter noted the question had not been answered. McClintock stared at the reporter for several seconds.
"I've said what I came to say," he said, and returned to his seat. He did not look in the reporter's direction again.
Harland Griggs, candidate for Secretary of Health, did not address the crowd. He stood near the stake throughout the speeches with his hands folded, waiting.
Also in attendance were Caleb Hensley and Derek Voss, candidates for Commissioner of State Lands and state comptroller, respectively. Hensley has drawn attention for his plan to rename the state, while Voss has promoted the DONG-affiliated cryptocurrency. As the speeches ended and the crowd gathered around the stake, Voss grabbed the microphone.
"Light her up! Light her up! Light her up!" he chanted.
The crowd took it up. Hensley stepped forward in a cloak that resembled something from a medieval court, the propane torch in his hand. He lit the hem of the pink dress and stepped back as the flame caught. As the fire began to climb, Griggs began speaking in an unknown language. The words were rapid and jagged, spilling out without pause. His eyes were open. The sounds continued as the fire rose up the dress and found the arms and found the snout. Then he stopped.
Asked afterward what it meant, Griggs said, "It means it's done."
The stake stood at the center of a wide circle of attendees. The effigy burned against the dark, its shape visible from the road. Passing cars slowed. The circle tightened as the heat grew.
A woman near the front called out, "Burn that pink bitch! Burn her snout off!"
The effigy burned for roughly twelve minutes. The bow on Poppy's headband was the last thing to burn away. When it went, someone said, "That's it," and a cheer passed through the crowd.
The fire burned for another hour before it was left to die. In the morning, the stake was still standing. A piece of pink fabric had somehow survived. Part of the bow, or maybe part of the dress. It hung from a wire and twisted in the wind. Nothing else remained.