Live mannequins show off clothing

NORWALK — When Pigs Fly Too offered an alternative window display during their sidewalk sale on Tuesday. Live mannequins modeled clothing they've purchased from the store, volunteering their time. "It's kind of retro, back in the 60s or 70s, we had sidewalk sales in Norwalk. We have five women clothing stores, three shoe stores and we had two men's stores. The mannequins were live back in the day," said Jan Phillips, a manager at the store. "So I thought, 'Why not do this in honor of sidewalk sales?'" Volunteer Marty Long said all of the people modeling for the store were volunteering their time, too. "It's very sweet. We have a lot of volunteers who have clothes from here and they're wearing the clothes that they bought," Long said. "We want to bring people to downtown, it's just a good thing for our town to have a sidewalk sale." When Pigs Fly Too is a clothing boutique that opened in October 2018. Across the street is When Pigs Fly, an upscale and resell shop. All proceeds at both stores help support the Piggyback Foundation, a group that helps care for families in times of need. The foundation helps families dealing with a serious illness and provides assistance to meet the needs of their children. "Our foundation has given over $1 million. Pigs Fly across the street has been here over 10 years, our little store Pigs Fly is certainly a boutique and everything is brand new. We're doing wonderfully," Long said. Because volunteers mainly deal with families battling cancer, when the pandemic hit, the stores were one of the first to close in Norwalk, she said. "A lot of them have cancer, life-threatening illnesses and we felt like that was a good thing to do, but they wanted to get going as soon as we could," Long said of the store's patrons. A sign in the window of the retail shop shows pictures of the children they're helping, asking customers to wear a mask to shop, to keep volunteers and Piggyback families safe. "The sign in the window depicts why masks are important. Now that they're mandatory, the sign isn't quite as needed but it was needed prior because there were a lot of arguments about whether or not people would wear masks," Phillips said. "We have people who are at risk." When walking into the shop, there is a station offering masks and hand sanitizer for customers. The station also limits the number of customers to three at a time in When Pigs Fly Too. Long said the community is so important for the foundation. "We're so grateful for the community that comes in and spends their money. We know they can shop anywhere and we're grateful they come here," she said. "They always say, 'Well, it's for a good cause.' We're very grateful for that."