Last week I had a meeting in Denver.  Having worked for years downtown, but now working in Golden, I always enjoy the opportunity to spend time in the city, especially when it is 70 degrees in February.  All my old parking lots have been turned into buildings, so I grabbed an expensive underground spot – when did parking start costing $20?  Thankfully I was rewarded by the beautiful weather and The Flataloes of Happiness when I emerged from my subterranean price gouging.

The Flataloes, so called only by me, are an outdoor public art exhibit that has been in Denver for as long as I can remember.  The colorful two dimensional herd currently roams down 16th street.  I never miss a chance to mosey among them, petting their thin backs and admiring their calves while anyone with me rolls their eyes in impatience.  I love them!

One of the things I love about blogging is being able to delve into random research about things that have always fascinated me but I’ve never bothered to learn about, so time to tell you what I learned about the Flataloes.

Nothing.

In this crazy Internet age my searches turned up nothing about my beloved sculptures…or basically nothing:

1. I learned that Bill Gian created the Flataloes, if Getty Image captions are trustworthy.
2. Some angry guy who hates Denver’s public art gave them a slight mention at the end of a ranting blog post, but has less information about the artist or the work than I do, because I learned the artist’s first name.

Therefore I take this opportunity to claim the Internet space for the Flataloes of Happiness sculpture by Bill Gian on the 16th street mall in Denver, Colorado which has been delighting my afthead since I was a wee child.  Let the urban legend propagate until I learn the truth.

Long live the Flataloes.