Post by ChrisB on Dec 20, 2014 17:49:27 GMT
I love this - I found out about it from John Chapman, of Bent Audio a good few years ago....
In Sweden, there is a traditional Christmas symbol of a goat, and in 1966 in the town of Gävle an advertising consultant named Stig Gavlén came up with the idea of making a giant straw one as an attraction for the town centre. So the goat was built - it was a big one - over 13 metres tall (42 feet) and weighing 3 tonnes. That was great and the town thought its giant Christmas goat - the Gävlebocken - was fab.
Fab, that is until, on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve the goat burst into flames, the victim of an arson attack. The evil goat bandit was caught and charged with vandalism.
The tradition of the placing of the goat in the castle square in the town has continued every year since then.
And every year the evil goat bandits have attempted to set it on fire. They have succeeded 26 times and all sorts of dastardly tactics have been used to torch the thing, including one instance where a flaming arrow was fired at the poor goat. Security measures such as volunteer guards, web cams, fireproofed straw and police vigils have been tried - a couple of times, it was destroyed before it was erected and one year a failed attempt included a plot to steal it with the use of a helicopter!
There's an inauguration ceremony, which is held on Advent Sunday & it's a popular event with performances and fireworks, attract thousands of visitors. The Goat then stays there until the New Year......unless the Goat Bandits succeed!
There is a web cam to watch the events unfold and the question on the lips of everyone in the town is "Will the Goat make it to the New Year?"
Here's the footage of the 2012 Goat sparking up.....
The Goat also has a Twitter account and posts an occasional blog!
Here's the web cam site.
In Sweden, there is a traditional Christmas symbol of a goat, and in 1966 in the town of Gävle an advertising consultant named Stig Gavlén came up with the idea of making a giant straw one as an attraction for the town centre. So the goat was built - it was a big one - over 13 metres tall (42 feet) and weighing 3 tonnes. That was great and the town thought its giant Christmas goat - the Gävlebocken - was fab.
Fab, that is until, on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve the goat burst into flames, the victim of an arson attack. The evil goat bandit was caught and charged with vandalism.
The tradition of the placing of the goat in the castle square in the town has continued every year since then.
And every year the evil goat bandits have attempted to set it on fire. They have succeeded 26 times and all sorts of dastardly tactics have been used to torch the thing, including one instance where a flaming arrow was fired at the poor goat. Security measures such as volunteer guards, web cams, fireproofed straw and police vigils have been tried - a couple of times, it was destroyed before it was erected and one year a failed attempt included a plot to steal it with the use of a helicopter!
There's an inauguration ceremony, which is held on Advent Sunday & it's a popular event with performances and fireworks, attract thousands of visitors. The Goat then stays there until the New Year......unless the Goat Bandits succeed!
There is a web cam to watch the events unfold and the question on the lips of everyone in the town is "Will the Goat make it to the New Year?"
Here's the footage of the 2012 Goat sparking up.....
The Goat also has a Twitter account and posts an occasional blog!
Here's the web cam site.
