Friday, June 27, 2003

Cows to parade through Atlanta

The cows are coming! Following in the hoofprints of Chicago, New York, Las Vegas, London and other cities around the world, CowParade is coming to Atlanta. The city will serve as an urban pasture to the herd of 150 painted, costumed, festooned and whimsically transformed cows that will be on display this summer.

If you happen to see a colorful resting cow with horns and sunglasses, it may be a sculpture created by North Springs High artteacher Kevin Cole.

An accomplished artist, Cole was asked to participate in the Atlanta CowParade. He enlisted his magnet art students to help in the project, with the result on display this summer.

Katie Stapleton, an adaptive art teacher at Woodland Elementary Charter School, also has created a cow, named Moo-nique, that showcases the talents of her special-needs students. The students will join Stapleton for the CowParade kickoff and family fun day at Centennial Olympic Park tomorrow.

Following the kickoff, the cows are loaded into trucks and driven to their summer grazing pastures in the Atlanta metro area and suburbs.

CowParade Atlanta 2003, presented by Chick-fil-A and hosted by McKenna Long & Aldridge, is the Southeastern debut of the world's largest public art exhibit designed to celebrate the spirit, fun, art, and community.When the exhibit closes on September 26, the cows will be rounded up and auctioned with the proceeds going to the American Cancer Society and TechBridge, a non-profit organization providing high quality, subsidized technology consulting and development services to Georgia charitable organizations.