By ALEXIS C. and KOURTNEY K.

Watertown Splash staff reporters

     Have you ever walked by the courtyard at Watertown Middle School and noticed a colorful cow staring at you? (You probably had to take a second look to see if you really just saw a cow.)

     The cow is 6 feet long and 4 feet high, and weighs about 150 pounds. Its name is Daisy.

     Well, there is a lot of history behind that cow. The cow was originally made for the Cows on Parade in Boston in the summer of 2006.

     Cow Parade events have raised more than $30 million for non-profit organizations all around the world since 1999, according to the website CowParade.com.

     Cow Parade has auctions that are conducted like traditional art auctions with live bidding. After the parade Daisy was auctioned off  the following October.

     According to a former WMS student, the people who first painted it used the wrong type of primer, so all of the paint peeled off.

     After that incident, Daisy ended up in the hands of the WMS mural club. The mural club repainted the stripes in the school year of 2008-2009 and Daisy was placed in the courtyard.

     Daisy was placed in the courtyard because people wanted it to be in the school, and the courtyard was the only practical location for a life-size fiberglass cow.

     At the end of the 2008-09 school year, the mural club voted to name the cow Daisy.

     (For information about Cow Parade and pictures from the 2006 Boston event, go to www.cowparade.com.)

--May 22, 2012--