The owners put up lights around it so you could see it when you drove by at night. Last Xmas, they put colorful lights all around it. At Easter time, they put a bunny mask on it's face, a HUGE basket of colorful eggs and some enormous single eggs around it.
A few months ago, I was driving into town and was horrified to see that some asshole had graffiti'd it. Not just a little bit, either - the entire side facing away from the owner's home was black. It was devastating. This simple thing that brought so much happiness to my little boys and to many others in this community was thoughtlessly, maliciously defaced for no discernible reason.
There was a general uproar in the community and even one of the Denver news stations came out and did a story on it. (You can see the before pic's and the story here.)
It's my understanding that many people offered to help fix our town's cow. The owners often found money had been left anonymously in their mailbox. People loved that cow.
Well, on Saturday, the boys and I went to this...
About 30 people turned out initially, with a few more trickling in here and there. Here's a picture of the mayor (in the hat) and to his left are Mark and Rachel H. (of me7of11)...
They served grilled hot dogs, cookies, soda, cider, chips, and other goodies. You could see the owner's humor in this iron art over their porch swing...
Their open house was from 2-4p. At about 2:30, we all made our way out to the cow for the grand unveiling. As we all walked over to the front pasture, cars passing by were honking and waving and cheering.
The owner gave a little speech about the community and the outpouring of generosity and support and offers to help out and how touched they were about it all. The original artist was there as well (pictured here, artist in white jacket with the owners to her left)...
The owner gave a little speech about the community and the outpouring of generosity and support and offers to help out and how touched they were about it all. The original artist was there as well (pictured here, artist in white jacket with the owners to her left)...
The artist works part-time at Home Depot and asked the manager for help. Home Depot donated the paint to fix it. The cow was hauled there, where they color matched the paint on the good side. Later, there was a party where many of the local children got to help paint it. The owner said what a wonderful thing it was to have some Parker children help fix what some other Parker children had tried to destroy.
The mayor said a few words as well, then they had the unveiling and everyone got to go in for touching and looking and pictures.
The mayor said a few words as well, then they had the unveiling and everyone got to go in for touching and looking and pictures.
Later I took the boys out there alone to get some pic's with them and the cow.
Here you can see where there's still some graffiti remnants on the base...
I love this town. I don't think I've ever lived in a place that would pull together and help out like I've seen here.
Parker, Colorado. Come for the cow, stay for the community.
Happy Holidays Everyone, Ruth!
8 comments:
That is great! What a cool cow! :)
That is the coolest dang thing in the universe! Community. It's a good thing.
Thanks for sharing Parker's Cow. I may start to look at the blow up snow man with a camoflauge vest, orange hat, and hunting rifle in a new way!
What a sweet story. And what a pretty cow! Too bad they don't look like that in real life (although I suppose it would be a lot harder to eat them if they did).
I wonder if the 6-year-old Alex in the article was my very own Jedi Master.
I KNOW that cow! I LOVED that cow. We called it the Hippie Cow every time we drove by it when we visited. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Parker sure knows the definition of neighbor and community. Well done!
That's so cool that the community clubbed together like that.
That is an awesome story. :D
What a great story!!! Your boys are so cute with their colorful cow.
Post a Comment