Chicken clothes are more than cute. Diapers, saddles, and tutus serve real functions and bring joy to backyard flocks.

COLONA -- At about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, Kirk Wyffels thanked me for my time, opened the garage door of Colona Firehouse No. 1, and headed out in an emergency vehicle.

It’s not well known, but those big, fun yard displays that regularly sprouted up on lawns across the U.S. as pandemic birthdays and graduations morphed into drive-by affairs were invented in ...