Visitors to Staffordshire next summer will be treated to a very unusual sight – a herd of elephants taking over the streets of two historic towns.
While the county has been home to a colony of wild wallabies, which escaped from a zoo in the 1930s and survived for many years in the Staffordshire Moorlands, elephants might be a tall tale too far.
But unlike the wallabies – last seen in 2009 and now believed to be extinct in the area – these elephants will be colourful sculptures.
In a “stampede of creativity” a trail of around 60 elephants will be brightening up the streets, parks and open spaces across Lichfield and Tamworth, along with Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, from 1 July to 8 September 2024.
The free-to-view March of the Elephants fundraising trail has been created by Wild in Art and St Giles Hospice in celebration of the Lichfield hospice’s 40th anniversary, with the elephants being auctioned off after their 10-week parade.
Each sculpture will be designed by local, regional and national artists, designers and illustrators and the trail was recently launched by ex-Spandau Ballet star, Tony Hadley, who signed an elephant… appropriately coloured gold.
Organisers have even come up with a Baby Barbie-themed pink elephant, which made an appearance at a cinema screening of the current smash-hit movie at an east Staffordshire cinema.
More details of the trail, and the sculptures themselves, will be revealed in the run-up to 2024.
Updates about the new trail can be found at www.marchoftheelephants.co.uk
For general tourist information about the area visit www.enjoystaffordshire.com
