Stamford Downtown Horse Tour 2012

Stamford Horse Tour 2012 Leg Three Crew 

 My friends and I had the most fun yesterday completing leg 3 of a walking tour of all of Stamford's horse statues.  Every summer the Stamford Downtown Special Services District does an Art in Public Places show.  This year the theme is "Horsin' Around" and the horses are awesome!

  

I say "leg three" as if there is a planned tour... no, one of my fabulously motivated and organized friends planned a four-leg tour for us so we can see all 40 horses. To make it more interactive for the kids, she also made books so the kids can put a sticker beside every horse they see.  I missed leg 2 of the tour because I was working, so now I am way behind.  Fortunately on our last leg we are going to review a bunch of horses, because my child WILL complete his sticker book.  

The Horse at the Hilton

One reason leg 3 was great is that I got to see all the development they're doing in the South End.  We started our tour yesterday at Mr. Frosty's.  (My friend linked to this great review by OmnomCT, a husband-wife team who I've talked to on Twitter a bunch and they are really helpful and knowledgeable.)  We got breakfast sandwiches from the super-accomodating staff, then hiked to the train station to see the furthest-south-placed horse.  Then we headed up to UBS and RBS.  Of course, one of our strollers almost got sideswiped at the crosswalk by the 95 ramp.  What type of person tries to beat a stroller through a crosswalk?  I'll tell you, a 55 ish white guy with a beard driving a new sports car.  Jerk.  Actually, I don't even think he was looking at the crosswalk, he was looking  back to see if anyone was coming to his left.  I'd like to see some data: IS that the most dangerous crosswalk in Stamford?  I'm guessing yes, if you consider how much foot traffic that crosswalk sees.  I could be wrong, but please use caution if you're ever walking there.

exit 7 off ramp

We ended up at the Hilton to see two more horses, then hiked back in the heat to Mr. Frosty's for water and lunch.  We only saw six horses today, as opposed to the 19 we'll see next week, but it was cool to see parts of Stamford on foot (like the exit 7 off ramp) that I'd only previously seen by car.
I'm thankful to my friend AP for organizing this tour, and thankful to SDSSD for doing Art in Public Places every summer.  The 2, 3, and 4 year olds loved the horses, and it has been a great motivator for us adults to get off our butts and walk around Stamford.

Oh cool! I just realized SDSSD has a Horsin' Around facebook page that has pics of all the horses with their names.  How convenient, since I either forget to look at the horses' names, or forget the name that I did remember to look at.