GET ready for a 'tenta-cool' summer of celebration.
Today we can reveal the launch of Octopus Ahoy! - a project being run by KAT Marketing and Tendring Council to mark 400 years since the journey of the Mayflower from Harwich and 150 years since Clacton's formation.
To mark both milestones, a spectacular community art event will run from June 25 until September 5.
Talented artists have produced 30 4ft-by-4ft octopus sculptures and they will be dotted throughout Essex.
Blue is the colour - an Octopus Ahoy! art workshop with artist Jenny Leonard
Your job is to download the Octopus Ahoy! app, which is free on iPhone and Android.
Then follow a public art trail to win prizes for scanning the octopuses, which will be hidden in streets, parks and open spaces.
Every time you find one and GPS picks up your location - or you scan the QR code on the plinth of the sculpture - you will earn a prize.
Gifts up for grabs range from cuddly octopus keyrings to free afternoons teas.
Work of art - Guardian of the Seas, by Lavinia Hamer
After the event, the sculptures will be auctioned to raise funds for Essex charities.
Your Gazette is an official media partner of the ten-week spectacular, which will also feature the work of imaginative primary schoolchildren.
Each participating school has had the opportunity to design its own 2ft-by-2ft sculpture.
At the end of the project, each one will be returned to its school as a permanent memento.
Getting creative - David Hutt, from Colchester Institute, Katie Skingle, from KAT Marketing, and artist Alana Fensom with 'Octavious'
The smaller sculptures will also be available to follow on the art trail app and hosted in internal locations, although no prizes will be awarded for finding them.
Octopus Ahoy! is a celebration of culture and history and we'll bring you more information about the app soon.
Volunteers also have a chance to get involved, from helping out with the octopus visitors to beach cleans.
'First Mate Crew', the name of the volunteer programme, is being launched on June 10.
Seeing double - Mik Richardson with his painted sculptures Journey of a Thousand Stars and a Plain Octopus Sculpture
If people want to come to the training session on that date at Clacton Leisure Centre, email octopus@katmarketing.co.uk
In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at some of the colourful, inspiring sculptures you need to look out for this summer.
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