HOLY COW! WESTLIFE SIGN UP FOR THE PARADE
CHART-TOPPERS Westlife have lent their support to the world's biggest public art
event in Edinburgh - by signing a celebrity cow. The Irish boy band are expected
to be the first of many chart-topping pop bands and celebrities to sign the cow,
which will be auctioned off after the Cow Parade event next May to raise money
for charity. Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan were delighted to start the
ball rolling during an appearance on Forth One yesterday.
The cow will join around 150 others on the streets of the Capital when the
Evening News-supported event comes to the city next year. The life-size
fibreglass animals will all be colourfully decorated by celebrities and local
artists.
The Edinburgh participants will join a list of famous artists, designers and
architects who have created cows, including Gavin Turk, Peter Max, Patrick
Hughes, David Lynch, Norman Foster and David Schilling. The innovative event has
already wowed crowds in New York, Prague, Barcelona and Sydney in previous
years, and this will be the first time it has come to Scotland.
Visitors and locals are likely to be able to follow a complete cow trail around
the city, to places such as Leith and Portobello, as well as central locations
such as Princes Street Gardens, the Meadows, The Mound and the Grassmarket.
At the end of the ten-week event, most of the city's bovine visitors will be
auctioned to raise money for the Vet Aid and OneCity Trust charities. A
spokesman for the Cow Parade Edinburgh said: "We are obviously delighted and I
think this could be the first ever celebrity cow to take part in the parade.
"It is great that Westlife have agreed to be the first to sign it, and if all
the other stars who come to Forth put their names to it then it should fetch a
great deal at auction and ultimately that is what its all about. The parade
itself is a lot of fun and in Manchester on the last weekend all the cows were
gathered together in a field and 15,000 people turned out to say goodbye to
them. We are planning to do the same thing in either Princes Street Gardens or
the Meadows at the end of the Edinburgh parade and they should attract a huge
crowd."
Richie Jeffrey, a marketing assistant at Forth One, said: "The cow is going
to be in our building until May next year so we are hoping to get all the stars
who appear on air before then to add their signature to it, until it is
completely covered.
"I certainly hope it will raise a lot of money at the auction, as it all goes to
charity. It is a big cow, so we should be able to get plenty of names on there."
The cows will be displayed from mid-May until the end of July.
THE FACTS
MORE than 3000 cows, involving around 5000 artists, have been created around the
world since the first Cow Parade in Zurich in 1998.
Among the innovative designs have been a gangster cow - "Al Cowpone" - as well
as a bizarre "Moodoo Doll" cow and a military themed "Cattle of Britain" cow.
All of the blank cows are constructed in Poland before being decorated and
waterproofed.
Most will be erected on concrete plinths outdoors, while some will feature in
window displays.
Pop star Jarvis Cocker, fashion legend Vivienne Westwood and supermodel Jodie
Kidd were all involved in Manchester's Cow Parade, which was a huge hit in the
city last year.
City landmarks, famous streets and public parks will all get their own cow
decorated by celebrities, artists and local schoolchildren.
Edinburgh decided to bring the concept to Scotland for the first time deploying
a tartan cow to help promote the city during this year's Tartan Week
celebrations in the Big Apple.
Other cities have reported the Cow Parade as proving a major draw to city
centres for tourists and locals, generating a surge in trade for local
businesses.