CowParade comes to San Luis Obispo: Are You Ready to Hit the Cow Trails?
Cows and art? Yep, it's a thing. And it's called CowParade. CowParade is like 4-H for the art scene. Instead of live cows sold at auction, you can buy a fiberglass cow decorated by a famous artist, celebrity, or designer. All proceeds go to charity. You get a unique creation and a non-profit gets extra funds. A win all around. You can see these unique creations on the "Cow Trails" in San Luis Obispo through May 2017.
CowParade
Hosted in 79 cities around the world, the CowParade is considered "the largest and most successful public art event in the world."
Life-sized fiberglass cows in three shapes (grazing, reclining, and standing) are decorated and displayed in various locations in the host city. The cows are sold at auction to raise money for charity. 2,500 cows have been created by artists, designers, and celebrities such as Kate Spade, Peter Max, Ronnie Wood, James Rizzi, Man One, and Radiohead.
Fun fact: A mosaic cow, Wage Moo, sold for $146,00 in 2003.
CowParade SLO
San Luis Obispo hosted CowParade SLO at the Madonna Inn where Los Angeles based graffiti artist Man One live painted a cow alongside his biggest fan, local young artist Dylan Ehmke on September 17, 2016.
I was in San Luis Obispo that weekend and CowParade SLO was a rare sight to see. The creativity that went into designing each udderly unique cow was so mooving. It gave me a butter appreciation and brand new perspective on art. 🙂
Here are a few of the cows that stood out among the herd:
Complete with a grate, Marilyn Moonroe was a crowd pleaser.
Picowso
Steam Punk Bessie
Moonipero Serra
Starry Night
Cowch Cow
Dia de los Moouertos
Clarabelle
Poke-a-Cow
CowParade San Luis Obispo Cow Trails
Missed CowParade SLO? You can see the cows on display throughout San Luis Obispo County through May 2017.
Stop by the San Luis Obispo Visitor Center to pick up a map or use the Interactive Cow Trails Map on the CowParadeSLO website.
The San Luis Obispo Visitor Center is located at 895 Monterey Street in San Luis Obispo. Hours are 10 am to 5 pm, Sunday to Wednesday. And 10 am to 7 pm, Thursday to Saturday.
Uploading photos to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat? Remember to tag them with #shareslow and #cowparadeslo.
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Those are so cute! We have mooses all around the city in Toronto! They are quite the tourist attraction!!
Hi Jennifer Van Huss,
Awesome, thanks. I'm definitely going to revisit Toronto and look for those moose.
What a fun way to incorporate art into daily life. This happens often in Chicago....we have had cows, horses, butterflies, you name it. My kids (and me too!) think it is such a fun way to enjoy art.
Hi Amanda Simkin,
You're right, it is a fun way to enjoy art. I love Chicago, will have to look for more of the art the next time I visit.
those are really fun to look at, love the stary night one, and the butterfly one is pretty cool too! I'd like to take my kids there some day to see them all 🙂
Hi Eloise,
You definitely should visit. The cows will be there until next year so you have lots to time to plan a trip. I only posted a few of the photos.
This cow parade looks so fun. I love how colorful they painted them. I'm sure this is so fun to watch.
Hi Dogvills,
Thanks. It was a fun event. I'm looking forward to going back and searching for them throughout the city.
What a fun place! I'm sure my kids would love these art! It has a lot of beautiful view.,
Hi Nikki,
Your kids will love it. There are several miny moos or children sized cows.
Oh my goodness! I would love to visit San Luis Obispo when the CowParade is there. The cows are decorated so beautifully! I love the butterfly cow. Wow! I'm going to have to check for flights!
Hi Nancy L,
Yes, please do. You'll love San Luis Obispo. Great food, casual atmosphere, and lots to see and do.
What a fun event this i-s. I lo=ve the cow with the blue paintings on it, so beautiful!
Hi Chubskulit Rose,
The Starry Night cow is pretty cool. It's hard to choose a favorite.
Those are some great art work! Wish the would come to our city.
Hi Nancy @ whispered inspirations,
Have you city submit a proposal and maybe the Cow Parade will decide to visit. 🙂
This looks like an interesting outing. I love finding unique places to visit with my family. Those cows are cute too.
Hi Up Run For Life,
That's my favorite part of traveling too - finding those hidden gems and unique places and things to do. Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
That is so cool! I love cows! Here in Iowa they have the American Gothic couple set up all over Cedar Rapids painted differently at each business.
Hi Melissa Dixon,
Happy you enjoyed the post. Now I'm going to have to visit Cedar Rapids to check out the American Gothic sculptures.
This sounds like such a fun event. How neat those cows are! I can't believe all those designs. They're amazing!
Hi Kathy,
Thanks, so glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
Our community does something like this but they are large pelicans and they put them all over the town!
Hi Jesica H,
Large pelicans would be fun to see. Where is that?
this is so cool! reminds me of the painted horses in kentucky. i love cows and art so this combines both!
Hi Jennifer,
Happy you liked the post. Next time I'm in Kentucky, I'll have to look for those painted horses.
These are so cool! I never knew anything like this was a thing, it's definitely awesome.
Hi Amber Killmon,
Thanks, glad you liked the post. 🙂
Wow! That is awesome! Those cows are so cool! If only we lived close, we will definitely go there and check those cows out!
Hi Lynndee,
They are pretty cool! Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
Omg how fun!!! I just had to is my daughter all of your cow picks! She's 4 and cows are her favorite animal lol
Hi CourtneyLynne,
Aaah, hope your daughter liked seeing all the cows.
Hi Debra,
Seems like a really fun time for a fun cause and no actual cows were hurt or sold in the process. Win-win-win all around. Having been to 1 4-H fair I prefer this one. If only for the lack of barnyard smells with faux cows dotting the grounds 😉 Either way, really cool event.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ryan
Hi Ryan Biddulph,
I totally agree, win-win for everyone. Plus it's such a great way to bring the community together.
Thanks for reading. 🙂
Oh how fun and I love the art work. I've never heard of a cowparade but I'm sure I'd enjoy myself.
Hi Terri Beavers,
You most definitely would. Glad you liked the post.
This cow parade looks so much fun. I love how colorful they've painted the cows!!
Hi Claudia Krusch,
It was a lot of fun. Glad you enjoyed the photos.
I have a secret obsession with cows and that Starry night Cow is definitely my favorite! Thank you for sharing
Hi Alyssa C,
Happy you liked the post. The Starry Night cow is one of my favorites too. 🙂
What? I want the cow parade to come to my town too! Would be so fun to paint a cow!!
Hi Marielle Altenor,
You're right, it would be fun to paint one of the cows. Thanks for reading. 🙂
I've never heard of such a thing before, but I know my kids would have a blast visiting a cowparade like this.
Hi Jessica Simms,
Your kids would have so much fun. The kids really enjoyed all the cows, especially the mini moos (kid sized versions).
Wow I've never come across any event like this yet! This looks so cool. Now we definitely need to have one in South Africa. Bring them to Africa! 😉
Hi Shaney Maharaj,
It was cool. I'm sure the Cow Parade would love to come to South Africa. 🙂
What a fun event. I love the Starry Night cow, but they are all so amazing. How cool that you got to design your own cow work of art.
Hi Chrishelle Ebner,
Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
This looks so cool! We've had the parade in Bucharest for a couple of years, but idiot people damaged the beautiful cows, so they stopped coming here. Would love to see them in some other part of the world.
Hi Alina Popescu,
🙁 Oh,no. That's a bummer. Such a shame that people can't appreciate art but destroy it instead. Maybe they'll eventually come back to Bucharest.
I like the ones that are standing up haha.. something different! It's always cool to see these types of art in cities, I wish more would do it.
Hi Annie,
Yeah, the standing up ones are pretty fun. Definitely out of the ordinary. Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
What a fun event and with a good cause! The cows look lovely so nicely decorated. I would happily have one in my house!
Hi Chrysoula,
It would be fun to have a painted cow. So glad you liked the post. 🙂
Starry night is my favourite cow I think! I never knew this was a thing and now I want to buy one!!
Hi Maddy,
Thanks for reading. 🙂
So bizarre but really unique. I love San Luis Obispo and the "bizarre" there like the gum wall. My favorite is the Steam Punk Bessie.
Hi Lesley,
That's the cool thing about San Luis Obispo, it's not quite a typical city. Steam Punk Bessie is pretty cool. 🙂
This is so cool! I visited SLO earlier this spring (my first time) and was so impressed with this awesome city. Now the Cow Parade...wow! I wonder if this is a new exhibit because I've never heard or read about it before. Definitely a fun city to make a stop in. Loved all of your photos.
Hi Melody,
Thanks, glad you liked the photos. Yep, it's a new exhibit that debuted the middle of September.
It's a temporary exhibit so you'll want to revisit SLO by May 2017.
Definitely a great day out for the kids. Those colourful cows looks so cute and good for photography day!
Hi Anne Klein (MeAnne),
Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂
This looks like so much fun and lots of color! We will try to go to the next one! Thanks.
Hi Carol Colburn,
Glad you liked the post. Thanks for reading. 🙂
How fun! I hadn't heard about this before but sure it was a good time. I like the one that's also a bench.
Hi Megan,
Cowch Cow was one of my favorites too. Cool, artistic, and practical. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.