Following the herd – Cow Parade

We were udderly delighted recently to join the muster and had our dose of all things cow in Perth with the world’s biggest public art event, Cow Parade. The colourful cow parade has been here since 31 October and is a free event.

Cow Parade commenced in 1999 in Chicago and has been staged in 79 cities, 32 countries and six continents since its inauguration. Holy cow, this makes it the largest, most successful temporary public art event in the world.

Blank cow sculptures are transformed by local artists making each unique. Some of the participating artists in the past have included Vivienne Westwood, Radiohead and Kate Spade.

So far more than 250 million people in cities throughout the world including New York, London, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong have seen the Cow Parade and more than $30 million has been raised for charitable organisations. That’s a lot of moo-la. Some of the herd in the Perth Cow Parade will be auctioned to raise funds for Telethon, to support child health research. Those not auctioned will be moved to permanently graze at the Children’s Hospital, Perth Airport and Art Gallery of Western Australia.

This not be missed event is udderly amazing and features 40 life size fibre glass cows across various city locations. This is a great self-guided walking tour and a bit of a mystery tour. Each of the couture cows is located across 30 of Perth’s iconic locations.

We collected our map from the iCity Visitor service in Murray Street and began to steak-out the bovine beauties. We hoofed it to Forrest Place where we found the first cow moo-ching about and from there we followed the trail mooving through the city, keeping a cowntdown of those sighted.

Some are easier than others to locate in malls, parks, iconic buildings and precincts and others are disguised with cow-moo-flage. Discovering these cows is a great way for a visitor to Perth to explore our city and see inside some of our historic buildings.

All the cows have a plaque with their name, their story and what inspired the design. Themes range from mythology, live export, fairytales, mineral wealth, gender equality, healing and more. They are all eye catching and many incorporate texture, like Jersey Girl who is covered in sequins, glitter and crystals. Bling it on. Another with texture is Mooey XIV with the decadence and opulence of Louis XIV’s era.

The cows were found grazing in Murray Street, Hay Street, London Court, Enex 100, the Bell Tower and Elizabeth Quay. We found them near the Train Station, in Northbridge near the State Library, Claisebrook Cove, the Mint, His Majesty’s, State Theatre, Perth City Library and the State Buildings.

If you plan going cowspotting you only have until 11 December before the herd moo’ves on. Tell me, which is your favourite? I loved the silver metallic cow that Steve is photographed with. Her name is Lady Luxury and she’s designed with inspiration from the Western Australian mineral and mining commodities.

What are you waiting for?  Share this post or leave a comment below.  If you like this post and want to read more like this why not subscribe to our Newsletter? We won’t spam you or share your personal details. We’d love if you would follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or click the StumbleUpon button or other social media share buttons below to share this post. If you want to come back to this post again, pin the photo below.