Any kiwi kid knows who Harold the Giraffe is; in fact, it was just the other day that a little girl at the library was telling me about his visit to her school. The mascot of Life Education, Harold travels around the country to teach children about nutrition, education, self-esteem and environmentalism. Quite a big ask for a puppet, but he’s been around since the eighties at least, and clearly still going strong. (I even got a picture of him in last year’s Santa Parade).
Harold, along with The Longest Drink in Town (we’ll get to that in good time) is coincidentally one of two easily-recognizable cultural icons in New Zealand that just happens to be a giraffe, and I suspect that this may have even been the reason why giraffe sculptures were chosen in the first place.
This one, designed by Gemma Rae Dudson, pays tribute to the fact that Harold is technically a hand-puppet by only depicting him from the neck upwards – and the rest is a mural of children enjoying the great outdoors. As such, its location was on the outskirts of the Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre, which is very much in keeping with Harold’s ideals.
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