If you ever spent a weekend in Beacon in the early 2020s, odds are you glimpsed a flash of fuchsia clip-clopping down Main Street. That was Dave Shelly—Army veteran, orthopedic surgical rep, irrepressible hugger—out for his regular stroll in a pink unicorn costume. He wore it not to promote anything, not to perform, but because it sparked joy. “This is my bubble out in the world,” he once told his wife, Jill Quaglino. “How can you not be happy around a pink unicorn?”
Shelly’s brand of radical kindness—part street performance, part personal mission—was entirely his own. And though he passed away in December 2023 after a swift and brutal bout with glioblastoma, his legacy lives on. This month, it comes galloping back in the form of Pink Unicorn’s Magical Day, a new children’s book by Beacon writer Nicole Hughes, illustrated by artist Chris Ams, and launching with a celebration on June 14 at Kitchen + Coffee.
The book’s plot hews closely to Shelly’s real-life acts of generosity. There’s the handing out of flowers. The chalk dance circles in front of the Marion Royael Gallery. The smiley-face coasters redeemable for free scoops at Beacon Creamery. And of course, the iconic outfit, originally gifted by a neighbor after Shelly jokingly said he’d rather shovel snow dressed in a pink unicorn suit. “He loved to see what kind of reactions he could get,” says Quaglino. “And he loved even more when those reactions were joy.”
Hughes, who briefly met Shelly in 2023 during the Halloween parade (he was too sick to walk it himself, so friends donned the suit in his stead), says the idea for the book hit her while riding the train from New York back to Beacon. “It was just a flash—‘the Pink Unicorn should have a book,’” Hughes says. “I reached out to Jill through mutual friends and we started a conversation—it all kind of came together so wonderfully.”
So Hughes got to writing. She recruited a “junior editor” team of local kids, who insisted on crucial plot details—like rainbow sprinkles. She pulled in illustrator Chris Ams, who painted 40 original watercolor illustrations. And she partnered with Quaglino to root the book in real stories of Shelly’s whimsy and heart. The result is a tale that’s sweet but not saccharine, ending with a gentle moral: We all have a pink unicorn inside us.
“Dave used to say he wanted to change the world,” Quaglino recalls. “Eventually, he realized he could change Beacon. And maybe that would ripple out.” In his final months, the community gave that love back in spades—through fundraiser unicorn walks, public tributes, and later at a packed celebration of life at Prophecy Hall. “He was very open about his mental health struggles and being a work in progress,” Quaglino says. “That’s what people connected to. He wasn’t perfect. But he showed up.”
Proceeds from the book go to the Beacon Unicorn Fund, a microgrant initiative dreamed up by Shelly and Qualino and seeded through book sales. Administered through the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, the fund offers no-questions-asked support to Beaconites in need—whether it’s rent, gas, groceries, or a creative spark. “Dave was very public about his own mental health struggles,” Quaglino says. “He put so much effort into the things that he did and tried to be the best version of himself he could.”
At the June 14 launch event, there’ll be a live reading of the book by Will Reynolds of Broadway in Beacon, art from the book for sale, and—of course—kindness kits for kids to take home, full of flowers, coasters, and ideas on how to pay it forward. “None of us are perfect,” says Quaglino. “And Dave often was like, ‘I’m not a perfect person,’ but he put so much effort into the things that he did and tried to be the best version of himself he could.”
And if you happen to be wandering down Main Street that Saturday morning and see a pink unicorn—or two—you’ll know: the magic never really left. It just changed form.
This article appears in June 2025.
