Goats sold to raise money for senior citizen programs

Orange County residents gathered at Galloway Ridge at Fearrington retirement community on Friday night to gather their goats.

While the community’s senior citizens played live music, attendees danced, ate and bid on 10 handpainted, fiberglass goats — which were decorated by various artists to raise money for the Robert & Pearl Seymour Center and the Chatham County Council on Aging.

Pat Richardson, director of community relations at Galloway Ridge, said the event attracted more than 250 attendees, mainly from businesses and surrounding communities.

She said communities, sponsors, artists and volunteers spent six months preparing for the event.

Richardson said the minimum bid price for each goat was $750, and the auction raised approximately $15,000.

The fundraiser was inspired by CowParadeNC, which placed 15 cows around UNC in 2012 to benefit the N.C. Children’s Hospital.

Chapel Hill resident Helen Figueroa said she probably would not bid on the goats because they were pricey, but she thought the event was beautiful.

“Really a huge thanks to all the artists that did all these goats, too, because they were in various areas of Chapel Hill for a while and they were at University Mall for a while,” Figueroa said.

“They went to downtown Chapel Hill. Then it came out to Pittsboro. They sort of placed them around for people to see.”

Each artist received the same fiberglass goat to start their project. They were allowed to pick a theme to paint onto the goats — some of which included Vincent van Gogh, elderly parents and the Old Well.

Prior to the auction, the goats were put on display around Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Pittsboro after making a debut at Festifall on Oct. 5.

Cindy Lucas and Sharon Barnes, two of the artists featured in the parade, picked the theme of Chapel Hill for their goat, titled Dogwoods and Diplomas.

Lucas said they worked on their goat for seven weeks, starting in August.

Her husband, Richard Lucas, said his wife wanted to see who would buy her goat and whether the goats would bring good prices for the senior citizens.

“I got to think any charitable cause can be well worth it, certainly in terms of increasing the numbers of aging Americans and the many needs that they have,” he said.

“So hopefully the money that will be raised by this auction will help contribute to them.”

Cindy Lucas said she wanted to see people who loved Chapel Hill and the University buy the goats.

“It is nice as an artist to have a chance to have people appreciate your work and to do something that helps others,” she said.

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