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New Guyton business delivers messages of love
Lawn Chatter
Jennifer McDaniel set up this Lawn Chatter sign at Effingham Care & Rehabilitation Center on Monday. - photo by Photo submitted

GUYTON — Jennifer McDaniel has a message for you. In fact, she has lots of them thanks to her month-old business — Lawn Chatter. 

McDaniel, a home-school mom, delivers loving words and well wishes in the form of large, colorful yard signs. She has them for virtually any happy occasion, including birthdays, graduations and welcome-home events.

She said, “You hear so much uncertainty and fear. I just wondered, ‘What is some way that I can brighten somebody’s day?’ This just came to me (in April) and I went to my husband, and he looked at me like I was crazy.”

McDaniel’s spouse, Clay, however, jumped on board with the idea shortly after hearing her sales pitch. 

“Our thing is, before anything else, we want to bring joy to people,” McDaniel said. “We want to make them smile.”

Using Facebook and word of mouth to advertise, Lawn Chatter delivered its first message at the end of May.

“Right off the bat, it was pretty busy,” McDaniel said. “(On June 20), we had six set-ups. It’s been wonderful.”

McDaniel said her business, located at Greystone in Guyton, took off as soon as people were able to see the signs that had previously been confined to her imagination.

“Nobody around here had really seen anything like this so it was so hard for them to picture,” she said. “Once we got the signs in and started to put them up, it really started to spread.”

Lawn Chatter’s messages are made more powerful because they are usually delivered with an element of surprise. They are set up at night so that they are in place for their unsuspecting recipient to see them the following morning.

On Monday, the residents of Effingham Care & Rehabilitation Center were the recipients of a message. It said, “You are loved.”

Senior care facilities around the nation are restricting or prohibiting visitation because of the danger of spreading COVID-19.

“I just called up (Effingham Care) and asked if I cut put a sign up there at no charge, nothing,” McDaniel said. “I just want the people there to know that they are being thought of. They are there all by themselves and I just can’t imagine (how that is).”

McDaniel, who is assisted by her husband and their 12-year-old daughter, Paige, hopes to maintain a presence at the facility by rotating messages.

In addition to letters, Lawn Chatter has highly durable plastic signs that depict birthday cakes, balloons, unicorns, stars, flags, ice cream, graduation caps and much more.

“We even have a fish set that we used for a Father's Day sign,” McDaniel said.

Lawn Chatter signs can be rented for 24 hours at a cost of $65. They can be ordered at lawnchatter.com or https://www.facebook.com/lawnchatter/. Discounts are available for those used to welcome home military personnel.

“It’s a business and we hope to make some money but that is not our first thing,” McDaniel said. “I want to focus on the happiness in the world. That is why we did this — making other people smile.”

Our thing is, before we do anything else, we want to bring joy to people.
Lawn Chatter owner Linda McDaniel