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.

cowparade001

cowparade023

cowparade051

cowparade057

cowparade041

cowparade060

cowparade035

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.

cowparade062

cowparade017

cowparade059

cowparade030

cowparade052

cowparade061

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.

cowparade063

cowparade058

cowparade028

cowparade025

cowparade014

cowparade021

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.

cowparade045

cowparade043

cowparade038

cowparade013

cowparade042

cowparade039

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.cowparade027

cowparade003

cowparade064

cowparade007

cowparade018

cowparade029

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.

cowparade002

cowparade011

cowparade012

cowparade050

cowparade022

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.

cowparade056

cowparade055

cowparade053

cowparade054

cowparade006

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.

cowparade015

cowparade032

cowparade019

cowparade009

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.

cowparade008

cowparade049

cowparade010

cowparade005

cowparade046

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.

img_7907img_8041

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 FacebookTwitter 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.

followingtheherd

7 Responses

  1. I love cows. it brings me the memories of my childhood.these pictures are lovely

  2. Connie Reed says:

    Love the cows! It brings back memories of the 1999 Cows on Parade in Chicago, modeled after the original in Zurich. It started a huge trend across the U.S. using different animals/objects. This year in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, they exhibited “Overalls All Over,” a tribute to American Artist Grant Wood.
    Connie Reed recently posted…Dining at Key West Shrimp House: Iconic Restaurant on the Ohio RiverMy Profile

  3. I read about this on another blog as well – seems like you found a lot of the cows – some great photos! Sounds like a great way to discover more of the city!
    Jessica @ Independent Travel Cats recently posted…5 Day Isle of Skye and Scottish Highlands ItineraryMy Profile

  4. Rhonda Albom says:

    Wow, I thought we had discovered a lot of the cows, but I you did amazing. The photos are beautiful and really show the variety.
    Rhonda Albom recently posted…Cruising on the Swan River to Artistic Fremantle, AustraliaMy Profile

  5. Anne says:

    I really should head into the city and check it out. Looks great.

  1. […] the Cow Parade is the inaugural Festival Fromage, a celebration of all things cheese. A celebration of cheese, […]

  2. […] Night Noodle Markets and we had our second visit a few weeks ago when we followed the herd in the Cow Parade. Both times we enjoyed a relaxing walk around our the boardwalks and over the bridge, walking along […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this:
Interested in travel?

Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting stuff and updates to your email inbox.

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Send this to a friend