Elementary School Crossing Guard Delights Pedestrians with Miniature Worlds
- Maria O'Donnell
- Mar 15
- 5 min read
For Over 10 Years, New Additions Fly or Crawl into Place
By Maria G. O'Donnell
Staff Writer
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When you spot the red Jeep at the intersection of Powder Horn Dr. and Squadron Line Rd. in Simsbury at either 8:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m., you’ll know Miss Michele is here – Michele Abbott, that is. Her post is just up the hill from Squadron Line Elementary School, where she’s been a crossing guard since 2014.
Miss Michele isn’t your average student protector: She’s the creator of a magical world of miniatures at the intersection where she crosses students and their families.
With continued support and approval of the property owners, Miss Michele set up SimsFairy Village, Gnome World, and Mr. Wiggles, the painted rock snake, with Rex Rock directly across the street. She got the job and started SimsFairy Village in the same year. Her own now-adult daughters were in middle school and 6th grade at the time, so her youngest got to watch the process.
Abbott became inspired by a girl from across the street who asked her if she believed in fairies. “I said, of course I do!” Miss Michele recalled. “I think I saw some fairies checking out this tree. Do you think they might want to live here?” The girl immediately replied, “Yes!”
From there, she and her sisters helped Miss Michele decorate the tree for the fairies to enjoy. “They built little houses, then I started hanging fairies. I made them out of beads and leaves.” Students would be delighted to discover that the fairies wrote them little thank you notes “for decorating the tree so nicely,” said Miss Michele.
The crossing guard realized boys needed something their more rambunctious natures could appreciate and play with. At the other end of the crosswalk on Powder Horn, Rex Rock came to be. Miss Michele brought some of her daughters’ old dinosaurs and found more on a Simsbury free items site and set them up on the corner boulder, with the T-Rex the dominant ancient reptile. From the street sign, a pterodactyl hangs in flight, usually with a creature clenched in its teeth. Occasionally, the dinos change positions, and kids are amazed that they moved from their spots earlier in the day. Sometimes the fairies move around, too.
Then came Gnome World. Out of an unfortunate incident involving the wild, windy microburst two summers ago, the fairy tree was knocked down by a utility pole. Miss Michele made sure the fairies would get a new home in a nearby tree, and she would also make a home for gnomes. Using the stump of the removed original tree, she spraypainted a birdfeeder’s squirrel-proofing dome red with white polka dots and put it on the stump, creating a mushroom. Gnomes love their habitat.
New this year is Mr. Wiggles, the rock snake. Miss Michele explained, “I have a bucket of blank rocks that the kids can paint and add to the snake. There are over 200 rocks this year – that’s pretty good!” She said that her parents live on the coast of Maine and “I gather the rocks there; they’re smooth and perfect for painting. I seal all the rocks so they’ll last longer.” Mr. Wiggles comes up before the first snow.
To keep things from getting stale, Miss Michele jazzes up the mini-worlds for the holidays. During Halloween, the dinosaurs don ghost costumes. During Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza, she decorates the fairy tree and Gnome World with special holiday touches. The dinosaurs get to wear her hand-knit scarves and hats. The street sign and stop sign at the end of Powder Horn get wrapped in garland.
When the New Year comes, just about everything comes down and a sign comes up: “Flown South for the Winter.” Miss Michele explained, “The fairies fly South, the dinosaurs hibernate, and the gnomes nap. I clean them before I bring them out in the spring.”
The dinosaurs aren’t the only ones who wear knit hats. Miss Michele keeps busy making animal-themed hats for herself. “I started by making only a few, now the kids request what they want me to make for myself,” Miss Michele said. “My husband says, You have too many! But I like to wear one every cold day.”
On less-than-cold days, she wears her hand-knit headbands, also animal-themed, or some other kid references, like TV shows or books they like. “Even if they don’t have a request, I know a girl likes Pokémon, so I made a few characters,” Miss Michele said. “A boy likes platypus, so I made a platypus hat. It’s so fun; I get excited for them to see it because I know they’ll like it.”
And that’s the reason she continues to be a crossing guard. Her favorite thing is “interacting with the kids. I love hearing about their day and finding out what they’re doing. It’s funny to hear the stories the kids tell me,” as well as “getting to know the families – a lot come with their families. I see the oldest kid, then the next one – I get to stick with families quite a long time.”
One of her first walkers was a girl who liked to unload her backpack at the corner and do her math homework with Miss Michele and claim, “We’re having fun!”
Maybe some of the weather elements aren’t too fun, however. Miss Michele can take the heat and cold, but when it’s a combination of “cold, windy and rainy, the kids aren’t crossing, so it’s no fun. I just stand there waving because I wave to every car that goes by.”
Miss Michele claims her post just one half-hour at the beginning and end of each school day. She appreciates the new stop signs that light up for better visibility on overcast days. She previously attached a head lamp to her stop sign for that very purpose.
Aside from her mini-worlds sprucing up the neighborhood, other occasions have been eye-openers. “I’ve crossed a bear and a raccoon,” she explained. “I was waiting after school and the kids were far away. A kid called, Bear! I turned around and it’s directly behind me. I crossed him across the road.”
As for the racoon? “It was creeping and snuffling along the ground. It came right up to me, looking at me,” she recalled. “I went in the road, held my sign up, and he crossed.”
Another somewhat unexpected moment comes once a year with a random act of kindness. “A lady gets me a cup of hot chocolate from Dunkin Donuts,” Miss Michele said. “That’s sweet of her. I
post on Facebook to thank her because I still don’t know who she is!”
Prior to crossing, she worked at Squadron Line School’s Library, then she volunteered there once a week, subbing for Mrs. Cunningham. From there, she subbed at all the different schools’ libraries. (Not too long ago, she worked at Simsbury Library, but now only does the crossing).
The subbing didn’t provide consistent hours. Miss Michele said, “I wanted to do something with the school and have summers off with my kids.” She wanted consistent hours working with kids, in general. “This position opened up, I got it, and I’ve been there ever since.”
She’s been asked to cross at other locations, but had to decline. In addition to the convenience of working close to home, Miss Michele explained, “I can’t leave Rex Rock and SimsFairy Village!”