Colchester Stand Tall Zoo anniversary event nostalgia

We looked back through the archives to the summer of 2013 when bright and colourful giraffes were placed all over the city to celebrate Colchester Zoo’s 50th anniversary.

It was a unique and inspiring event which ended up raising £115,450 for the zoo's Action for the Wild charity after they went up for auction.

Blank: plain giraffes before they were decorated by Colchester schools (Image: Newsquest)

Designs: giraffes on display (Image: Newsquest)

The project called Stand Tall included 30 2.5 metre giraffes and 80 smaller sculptures.

The one-of-a-kind sculptures were displayed in Colchester from June 2, 2013 until the end of August, 2013.

The initiative was developed in partnership with Wild in Art, an arts, events and education charity which has been involved in similar events in the country as well as Europe and Africa.

Storage: the giraffes waiting for their time to shine (Image: Newsquest)

Supermarket: a giraffe with staff at Sainsburys (Image: Newsquest)

Each giraffe was designed by artists in North Essex as well as schools and other organisations.

Before going on display, the Big Yellow Self Storage Company in Bruff Close in Colchester was said to have received one its most unusual packages yet as it stored the 112 giraffes before their debut.

The first 2.5m tall giraffe was glamorously flown to the Maldon Road zoo by helicopter.

Posh: the first giraffe made a dramatic entrance (Image: Newsquest)

The rest appeared mysteriously overnight, all over Colchester in streets, parks and open spaces.

There were realistic-looking giraffes, glittery giraffes, colourful giraffes, heart print giraffes, mouth print giraffes and more.

A total of 17 of the statues even ended up on the banks of the Thames in London for a show after the Colchester takeover.

Display: one of the giraffes (Image: Newsquest)

Iconic: the giraffes on their final week (Image: Newsquest)

The iconic 12-week-long art project ended at the end of August when they were then sent to auction after being displayed together at Colchester Zoo for one week.

At the time of the event, Anthony Tropeano, Colchester Zoo director, said: “We’ve been blown away by the response to the sculptures – they really have been a major talking point in Colchester and the surrounding areas this summer.”

Now, a decade on from this creative community event, it remains incredible to look back and remember events like this.

Farewell: the giraffes making a group exit (Image: Newsquest)

Mascot: the first giraffe on display with the mascot (Image: Newsquest)