13 Nov 2018

Christchurch’s streetwise urban sheep will mix with their real-life country cousins when they go up for auction at the Show.

The brightly coloured sheep sculptures were installed at various locations around the central city in September 2014 as part of Christchurch City Council’s Enliven Places Programme which was set up after the earthquakes to help create an attractive, fun, welcoming and interesting environment to encourage people back into the city.

Urban sheep will go under the hammer at the New Zealand Agricultural Show.

These colourful urban sheep will go under the hammer during the New Zealand Agricultural Show at the Canterbury Agricultural Park.

They were the brainchild of French industrial designer Christophe Machet and were designed to serve as quirky traffic barriers.

The urban sheep became popular with locals and tourists but now the rebuild has progressed and streets re-opened, the fake flock has been decommissioned by the Council.

Forty of the striped sheep will be auctioned by Christchurch City Council at the New Zealand Agricultural Show this week as a fundraiser for the Mental Health Foundation.

Eight of the sheep, two of each colour, will be auctioned tomorrow during the Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition which begins at 3.45pm, on the ANZ Cattle Lawn at the Canterbury Agricultural Park. This will be part of the competition - with each entrant auctioning off one sheep.

The remaining sheep will be up for grabs in a silent auction hosted on Friday at the ASB Village Green. The Council’s Enliven Places team will be on site, with multiple rounds of bidding taking place between 8.30am and 2.00pm.

All of the money raised will be donated to the Mental Health Foundation.

Council Head of Urban Design, Regeneration and Heritage Carolyn Ingles is expecting hot demand at the auctions.

“If you’d like to buy one of these distinctive beasts for your backyard or business then get along to the Show early. They’re an instantly recognisable symbol of Christchurch and the time after the earthquakes when people needed a bit of optimism and fun so I think there will be a large number of enthusiastic buyers wanting to take one home.”

The sheep won’t disappear completely from the central city, however. The Council plans to put four back in High Street as sculptural seating so the legacy of the urban sheep will live on.