Mysterious paw prints have materialised in one part of York city centre.
And if you follow them along Rougier Street, Tanner Row or George Hudson street, they’ll lead you to this imposing fellow!
A giant red and gold rabbit has appeared out of nowhere on the corner of one of York’s busiest streets.
Fully 2m tall and 1m wide, he is a striking addition to the streetscape, found outside the Society Lounge Bar on Rougier Street.
He’s been brought here by the York BID (Business Improvement District). Their operations manager Carl Alsop explained why.
“He’s been installed for Lunar New Year 2023, which is coming up on the 22nd of January.
“Lunar New Year is celebrated around South-East Asia and China. This is the year of the rabbit, which is actually the luckiest of all the symbols.
“So we thought we’d would bring some luck to York and bring a stylish rabbit as well.”
It has been created by Norse Sky, the Yorkshire-based set and prop builders.
John Prowse from the company said: “We’ve taken it from a block of polystyrene to what it is today,” he told YorkMix. “We figured we’d use red and gold, very traditional Chinese colours.”
He hoped it would “capture people’s attention and their imagination”.
Along with the giant rabbit, the BID have installed red and white lights and lanterns in the trees on Parliament Street and dragons above Coney Street.
“It’s Blue Monday on Monday, which is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year,” Carl said.
“It’s a cold January, something like this hopefully adds a little bit of fun.
“The BID have contributed to Lunar New Year for the last few years. I think it’s important to do – we have a population of people who celebrate Lunar New Year within the city.
“And I think it’s a really nice thing to celebrate those other cultures. Already this year, we’ve had a really good response to the lanterns, to the lights in the trees – the dragons always get a nice round of applause.
“So why not other a giant two metre rabbit?”
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