Moooo-ve on over bats; this is a cow town now. All over Austin, wildly decorated cow statues are posed walking down the streets, grazing along the sidewalks and relaxing on corners. The cows are intriguing, and passersby may often stop to wonder what exactly these bovine works of art are doing here.

Austin is just one of many cities to host a CowParade over the past years. In fact, more than 50 cities have been home to CowParade since its creation in 1999. CowParade Holdings Corporation organizes and sponsors the event, and local artists are commissioned to bring their personal flair to each cow.

CowParade features the work of a wide variety of artists, from the famous to the lesser known. The CowParade Holdings Corporation pays each artist “an average of $1,000” to create a work of art, according to its website. In the past, CowParade has even featured cows decorated by designers, such as Kate Spade, and musicians, like Radiohead. The result is thousands of cows all across the world. CowParade estimates that “over 100 million people around the world have seen these famous