Warning: Barnyard animals on the loose in Raleigh!

Before…

…and after! Apex High School art students put finishing touches on their beaux-vine art.

At the State Fair last year, you may have noticed a few unusually attired animals competing for top honors alongside the usual livestock staples. But while most of the cows, chickens, pigs and horses at the Fair make sure their manes and feathers are shiny and unruffled for competition, their fiberglass counterparts in the Farm Animal Frenzy contest are getting their last coats of paint, glitter and paper mache. (The site is hilarious in itself–check out its “Barnyard Rules” that pop up on each page.)

Basically, we hand over 19 life-size (in the case of the horses, cows and pigs) and larger than life (in the case of the roosters) animals to high school art departments across the Triangle and tell them to interpret this year’s theme of Take Time for a Great Time. This is the second year of the contest and we couldn’t believe what we ended up with last year–there is some serious creativity out there!

The animals will overtake Raleigh’s Triangle Town Center mall on Saturday at 9 a.m. to be judged. This is the first chance the schools will have to evaluate the competition and start campaigning for their school to be chosen for the “People’s Choice Award,” which is determined through online voting. The farm animals will be on display at the mall until Oct. 10 when they’re moved to the fairgrounds in preparation for the Fair.

The first-place winner will receive $1,000, second will earn $750 and third will get $500 when results are announced just prior to the Fair. All schools get $200 for participating. You can view the animals and vote online starting soon for your favorite school until midnight, Wednesday, Oct. 22.

Support your favorite school and its art students from the following schools: Apex High School; Athens Drive High School, Raleigh; Camelot Academy, Durham; CardinalGibbons High School, Raleigh; Cresset Christian Academy, Durham; Durham School of the Arts; East Wake High School, Wendell; Enloe High School, Raleigh; Fuquay-Varina High School; Garner Magnet High School; Holly Springs High School; Jesse O. Sanderson High School, Raleigh; Jordan High School, Durham; Millbrook High School, Raleigh; Mount Zion High School, Durham; North Carolina School of Science and Math, Durham; Riverside High School, Durham; WakefieldHigh School, Raleigh Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, Wake Forest.

And watch out while shopping…like the name implies, these animals can get a little frenzied! If you get a chance to stop by, let us know what you think about them here on the blog.