Cows Invade San José
The first cows taking
part in the "Cow Parade"
made their debut in
downtown San José over
the weekend, as some 120
works of art will be
displayed along the
Avenida Central
(boulevard) and other
locations around San
José ahead of the
official inauguration of
the event that will take
place on Thursday (March
27).
This is the first time
the international
festival takes place in
Central America and
according to Mariano
Morelli, director of
Gigantografías, the
company that has the Cow
Parade franchise, is
asking one an all to
appreciate the art and
not damage or dirty the
cows as they walk by the
open air exhibits.
During the past two
weeks the Municipality
of San José workers were
busy placing concrete
slab stands at various
points along the
boulevard and almost
overnight during the
holiday week, the cows
appeared.
"People will be allowed
to take photographs of
the cows but please show
your culture" were the
words of Morelli,
referring to the groping
and fondling of
passersby of the bronze
statue of the large
woman representing the
women of Guanacaste in
front of the Banco
Central building along
the pedestrian walkway.
Morelli was also
indignant of the damage
done to some of the cows
during the evening of
Saturday night, mainly
by vehicles using the
walkway during night.
Morelli said that
authorities will be
meeting today to decide
on security measures for
the works of art.
The Cow Parade is an
international art
movement and for San
José mayor, Johnny
Araya, the display is a
way of transforming San
José to a place to be
visited by touritts
rather than just a stop
through to their beach
and resort destinations.
Araya hopes that art
exhibits like the Cow
Parade will attract
people to the downtown
core and got the idea
when he visited Buenos
Aires and Madrid, other
cities hosting the Cow
Parade.
When the Cow Parade was
first announced there
was doubt that it would
attract sufficient
corporate sponsors to go
through with the event.
However, companies like
Rosti Pollos, Clorets,
Aval, Tang, Hotel
Presidente, Living,
Epson, BAC San José, La
Casa del Rótulo,
Octámetro y Battery,
Scotiabank, Gruma de
Centroamérica, Kraft,
Pinturas Sur and Dos
Pinos and reached into
their pockets.
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