Photos of the horses

Louisville, KY - Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson was joined by Matt and Fran Thornton, Gallopalooza Co-Chairs, Jim Wood, President and CEO of the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the boards of directors of Gallopalooza, Inc. and Brightside, Inc. at the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center to welcome more than 30 life-size, fiberglass horse statues to Louisville Thursday morning.

Gallopalooza is a civic pride project that plans to feature 200 artistically-created fiberglass horses on display throughout the community from April 2009-October 2009.  The proceeds from the event will be used to create landscaped “gateways” into our community through a special partnership with Brightside.

“It’s exciting to see the first herd of horse statues that will be transformed by local artists this winter – then hit the streets of Louisville this spring, in time for Derby,” Abramson said.

The horses were sculpted by a local architectural design/build company – Weber Group, Inc. – specifically for this project.  Mellwood will store the horses and provide studio space for artists wanting to work on their horses there.

Project organizers are looking for sponsors to underwrite the cost of their display from April-October 2009.  Nearly 100 horses and 21 foals have been sponsored to date.  Mark Prussian, CEO of The Eye Care Institute, explained that they "became a sponsor of this fun civic event because Louisville's been good to us and we wanted to be supportive of the community and residents in return."

In addition to wanting more sponsors, organizers are also looking for artists to decorate the horses.  Artists have until December 19, 2008 to submit designs for sponsors to consider.

For more information visit:  www.gallopalooza.com.