Cow Parade
The Cow Parade is in town.
This sounds silly, but that's what it is called. It's a traveling collection of statues of cows and bulls. Unpainted statues are sponsored by local businesses (they attract attention, so it's good advertising) and are painted by local artists.
In front of Friendly's Restaurant, there's a cow painted all white and decorated with delicate pink, blue and yellow stylized blossoms. Its title is "Meissen Cow." Down the street a-ways is a cow that has been painted up to look as if it were composed of numerous jelly-like creatures that are all eyes and mouth. For some reason, it is called "Cowbelly." On the town green stand four or five cows in a corral--a cow painted with the stereotypical aerial shot of autumn in New England, including a storybook village, a church spire towering over it and red leaves on every tree; another cow blazoned with scenes from an Irish countryside (and, lest you not get the point that this is Irish, harps and shamrocks as well); a third in purple and pale blue paisley; a fourth in quilting patterns. Outside the music store in the center of town stands a bull looking extraordinarily uncomfortable in a formal tuxedo. In Victory Park, the small triangular park set aside to honor veterans of WWI and WWII, stands a cow painted to resemble a cornfield; the head and the upper part of the body are all blue sky and fluffy cottonball clouds, while the bottom half of the torso shows a cornfield. The legs are individual cornstalks, ripe and ready to harvest. My personal favorite is the bedizened and bespangled yellow cow that glitters in the window of jewelers Lux Bond & Green. It's called "Diamond Cow." I keep thinking of it as the Golden Calf, of course.
Recently, there was a parade of living cows through town to advertise the statues. Nothing unusual--Jerseys, Guernseys, Holsteins. Not a single cow or bull that couldn't have been seen driving to twenty minutes to Bloomfield (or to Newington, or to Rocky Hill), where there are plenty of REAL cows in REAL dairy farms.
And yet, parents and children flocked to the parade of real, biological cows, excitement glowing in each one's eyes. "I've never seen a cow before," was repeated over and over in reverent tones by children and adults alike. The awe in their voices would not have been out of place if they had just seen a unicorn trotting up North Main Street.
It's amazing. It truly is.
There will be more Cow Parade events through January, I believe. Then the organizers will head to the Midwest, and the statues will be auctioned off. The statues are expected to sell for tens of thousands of dollars. The proceeds will go, I believe, to a foundation that will provide grants which will allow other artists to do unique artistic works.
Such as painting statues...for other Cow Parades.
This sounds silly, but that's what it is called. It's a traveling collection of statues of cows and bulls. Unpainted statues are sponsored by local businesses (they attract attention, so it's good advertising) and are painted by local artists.
In front of Friendly's Restaurant, there's a cow painted all white and decorated with delicate pink, blue and yellow stylized blossoms. Its title is "Meissen Cow." Down the street a-ways is a cow that has been painted up to look as if it were composed of numerous jelly-like creatures that are all eyes and mouth. For some reason, it is called "Cowbelly." On the town green stand four or five cows in a corral--a cow painted with the stereotypical aerial shot of autumn in New England, including a storybook village, a church spire towering over it and red leaves on every tree; another cow blazoned with scenes from an Irish countryside (and, lest you not get the point that this is Irish, harps and shamrocks as well); a third in purple and pale blue paisley; a fourth in quilting patterns. Outside the music store in the center of town stands a bull looking extraordinarily uncomfortable in a formal tuxedo. In Victory Park, the small triangular park set aside to honor veterans of WWI and WWII, stands a cow painted to resemble a cornfield; the head and the upper part of the body are all blue sky and fluffy cottonball clouds, while the bottom half of the torso shows a cornfield. The legs are individual cornstalks, ripe and ready to harvest. My personal favorite is the bedizened and bespangled yellow cow that glitters in the window of jewelers Lux Bond & Green. It's called "Diamond Cow." I keep thinking of it as the Golden Calf, of course.
Recently, there was a parade of living cows through town to advertise the statues. Nothing unusual--Jerseys, Guernseys, Holsteins. Not a single cow or bull that couldn't have been seen driving to twenty minutes to Bloomfield (or to Newington, or to Rocky Hill), where there are plenty of REAL cows in REAL dairy farms.
And yet, parents and children flocked to the parade of real, biological cows, excitement glowing in each one's eyes. "I've never seen a cow before," was repeated over and over in reverent tones by children and adults alike. The awe in their voices would not have been out of place if they had just seen a unicorn trotting up North Main Street.
It's amazing. It truly is.
There will be more Cow Parade events through January, I believe. Then the organizers will head to the Midwest, and the statues will be auctioned off. The statues are expected to sell for tens of thousands of dollars. The proceeds will go, I believe, to a foundation that will provide grants which will allow other artists to do unique artistic works.
Such as painting statues...for other Cow Parades.