Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest tried to call, only to be stopped by a full voice mail box.

A sweet phone call to dad on his birthday? Think again. After two Palm Beach County brothers put up a billboard inviting passerby to wish him a happy birthday, thousands of phone calls and text messages flooded his phone.

Chris and Michael Ferry wanted to give their father, who lives in Linwood, N.J., something meaningful for his 62nd birthday, Chris Ferry said.

Later that night, as Chris was dealing with a billboard company for work, the idea came to him: "What if we put his big head right on a billboard and said 'wish my dad happy birthday' with his phone number?"

Chris, 30, who lives in Boynton Beach, told his brother Michael, 28, who lives in Delray Beach about the $2,000 idea and Michael thought it was hysterical.

At that point, Chris said, he and Michael were unsure whether they should use their dad's real phone number. They were a little scared he'd be upset, but they decided to "go big, or go home."

The billboard asks strangers in big block letters to "Wish My Dad Happy Birthday" alongside his father's phone number. And wish they did. Around 8 a.m. on March 6, soon after the sign went up, their dad received his first text from a man named Nick.

"How do you know it's my birthday?" Chris said his dad texted the stranger.

"Well I saw your billboard," the man replied.

Chris said his father, who turns 62 on Saturday, knew his two boys were playing a prank on him and went to find the billboard himself.

It was social media that turned the family prank into a viral story, he said.

"It blew up. His phone started going crazy."

Chris, 30, said his dad told him about touching conversations he'd had with people whose fathers had died or who had a birthday on the same day. Some sang to him. Others sent photos.

"He was doing the best he could to answer all the texts and take all the calls as well until it just got completely out of hand," he said.

Chris estimated his father had received more than 20,000 texts and calls since the billboard went up. Even Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest tried to call, only to be stopped by a full voice mail box.

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Ferry Sr. told his son he's received birthday wishes from Germany, Nepal, Canada, Australia and Israel, just to name a few.

The birthday prank stems from when Chris and his brother were young, he said. His father dedicated his social life to taking the two all over the country to play ice hockey. After the games, all the dads would take the boys to restaurants like Applebee's or Chili's.

"We always liked telling the waitress or waiter that it was my father's birthday," he said.

They loved seeing the look on his face as the servers came out singing and clapping.

"We've got him every time. You think he would know, hey these guys are going to do this to me, you know?"

For those who may want to wish Ferry Sr. a happy birthday, you won't reach him with the billboard information. Chris said his father finally went to get a new phone number after the craziness that ensued.

But still, he doesn't have any regrets. Laughing, he said, "It's something my father will never forget for sure."

cmazanec@pbpost.com

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This story originally published to palmbeachpost.com, and was shared to other Florida newspapers in the GateHouse Media network.