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LOCAL INSTAGRAM CELEBRITY >> VIRAL SENSATION
TOADALLY VIR AL
IT ISN’T EASY BEING GREEN A Toad’s Road to Fame S T O R Y B Y M A R L O W E S TA R L I N G P H OTO G R A P H Y P R O V I D E D B Y S AVA N N A H M I K E L L
T
he name’s Toad. Toby Toad. But that’s Yaboi Toby Toad, to you, and to over 152,000 other people (and counting) who follow the now famous Fowler’s toad on
Instagram. But before she created the account in June 2019, none but Savannah Mikell knew about Toby, the colorful toad who frequents her home garden in Williston, Florida. The walled-in courtyard on her porch attracts all kinds of visitors, from lizards to
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OUR TOWN MAGAZINE
July/August 2020
toads, but Toby was unique. He was more colorful than the other toads in her garden. The first-ever photo of Toby was him sitting on a tiny dollhouse couch Mikell’s aunt made for her when she was 6 years old. When she posted it in a public Facebook group called Frogspotting, people loved it. Three Facebook pictures later, she decided to create the Instagram account, which Mikell estimates attracted 13,000 followers in just two weeks in support of the charismatic toad depicted selling lemonade, having brunch and tending to his garden. The dollhouse props are made to look as realistic